[Last modified: November, 13 2024 01:35 AM]
My pilot research will focus on refugee entrepreneurs, so it will have many policy dimensions, ranging from legal to political issues. I’d also like to point out that my findings may inadvertently support neoliberal economics and be exploited by policy makers. Therefore, it is important to critically review political and historical research on the social situation of informants.
Firstly, informants are vulnerable in terms of their legal status in London. UK government policy is constantly changing and the policies of their home country could at any time affect their status in London. Although the focus of my pilot research is not to evaluate UK refugee policy, my political stance could influence my analysis of the field notes. I should be aware of my choice of words, as the way I frame my informants could have unintended political implications.
Secondly, the fieldwork could touch on some sensitive aspects of refugees’ experiences and there is always a risk of harming them indirectly. This means that building trust by keeping the research transparent and always seeking consensus is very important. My position as a Japanese Masters student at UCL could create an unequal power relationship, so I’d like to make the interview more casual and personal so that it doesn’t feel like an interrogation or a news report. I’d like to use peer review because I should always question my subjectivity, especially as it has several political aspects.
Finally, I’d like to point out that my ethnography of refugee entrepreneurs in London could lead to a generalisation of refugee entrepreneurship and support economic success as a solution for refugee life in London. The risk of orienting the pilot research towards neoliberalism is not anthropological and the focus should be on the informants’ experiences and the realities that could be seen through the lense of those people.