[Last modified: October, 28 2024 12:22 PM]
My positionality as a 4th generation Indian Kenyan woman in Kenya.
In reflecting on my positionality in my research; exploring how diverse understandings and epistemologies of nature and consequent conservation practices are contested amongst different actors in Kenya—a topic that aims to contribute to a decolonising anthropology in dealing with questions of land repatriation, inequality, structural violence and politics of knowledge production, several meaningful parallels emerge.
Firstly, I am a fourth generation Indian Kenyan—my great-grandfathers and their families were moved from India by the British before World War 1, along with a significant Indian population to work primarily on building rail roads, and later to dominate business. There now exists a signification Indian diaspora in Kenya, many who occupy the middle-upper class. Therefore, my positionality in Kenya is very nuanced, having privilege initiated by colonialism and its structures of power. Simultaneously, Indian Kenyans have become embedded in society, particularly in the big cities of Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu, and they are even recognised as one of Kenya’s many ‘tribes’ in the constitution. Nonetheless, my position stands out and is separate from the local population and is important when considering my positionality in research.
I believe my unique positionality may help me in my research question in the following ways. My family history of migration and integration means that I have grown up with a plurality of cultures and interpretations of the world. This history is in is itself a contested phenomenon, rooted in colonial histories and processes, and resulting in the inequalities of power that persist today. Similarly, dominating conservation practices in Kenya are rooted in these colonial histories, legacies and epistemologies. In unearthing and understanding the colonial legacies, politics of knowledge production and contestations of conservation in Kenya, I will be able to simultaneously explore my own personal and historical contested legacies.
In my research I must be aware of how class, race, and gender inform my approach to the research. Occupying a privileged class and of contested Indian race, will allow access into some institutions, and may limit interactions with local populations as they remain suspicious or distrusting owing to continuing political, social and economic inequalities and subsequent local assumptions. Moreover, Kenya being a highly patriarchal society, institutionalised during colonial rule, being a young female researcher will bring its own sets of challenges in accessing spaces and being taken seriously. Nonetheless, I believe the ‘problematic’ aspects of my positionality may help unearth the many problematic logics behind political and social structures, epistemological hegemonies and subjugations, and how these shape people’s relationship to the natural environment and conservation practices in Kenya.
Aside from this, I aim to engage with a methodology of storytelling, important in Swahili and Bantu cultures of Kenya, and in order to overcome points of separateness (Michael Jackson), make and unmake knowledge paradigms. This way, I will be able to explore questions of what story is being told, who is telling it and why? What power structures are being produced or reproduced through this work? Finally semi-fluency in Swahili is something I would like to improve before my research in order to make space for a greater level of interaction with my interlocutors.