Becoming the Other: Research as Co-Partnering in the Time of the Pandemic

Esteemed social anthropologist Dr. Mary Racelis demonstrated what has seen her through her many years of success as a researcher and development worker when she shared her insights with participants during the 42^nd UGAT Conference on November 17. In her Zoom presentation entitled “Virtual Fieldwork? COVID-19 and the Anthropology of Encounter,” she made it clear that the pandemic would not hinder those who were doing important work in Philippine communities if they met the challenge of being flexible and creative.  Despite her being an academic “elder,” she spoke from experience on learning from mistakes like everyone else living under lockdown, navigating her way through online technology and gathering data when person-to-person encounters were no longer possible.

She began her presentation by identifying the problem of “The Anthropologist Encounters the Community,” and proceeded to assess the situation and the risks it could entail, show how it could be managed, discuss its implications for other researchers and community workers, and point out how “The New Normal” provided windows of opportunity from which to benefit. Each segment of her presentation was supported by anecdotes culled from her own experiences, whether bringing along students to meet the poor who live in Manila North Cemetery, or dealing with consent forms in interviewing members of indigenous communities affected by the Kaliwa Dam project.

One of the important factors Dr. Racelis cited in continuing to conduct research during the pandemic was accepting that traditional methods of data gathering such as participant observation could not be done. Instead, partnerships become a vital function in the process, and reliance on members of a community to act as the researcher’s “eyes” becomes a reality. The inability to physically enter a site and meet informants face-to-face thus transforms the researcher into an “other,” and raises the community collaborator to the level of co-partner and co-author in the knowledge production endeavor. If issues of familiarity and trust were crucial in the pre-COVID scenario, they are even more so in the task of doing virtual fieldwork.  In order to gain trust, the researcher needs to ascertain that the community is represented honestly, and establish that s/he is a partner in their problem-solving.

Among the virtual options Dr. Racelis noted that could be considered in generating information were those that have been found to be practical and useful: Key interviews through cellphones with local leaders and contacts, and with respondents selected upon consultation with them; and focus group discussions with respondents brought together by local leaders/contacts via Zoom. From the former, which she utilized early on in the pandemic, she discovered that the problem most feared and experienced by informants was not contracting the virus and falling ill, but rather facing hunger due to loss of jobs and income. She and her team also eventually learned that maintaining sufficient load balance to perform research tasks was a common and recurring issue. Meanwhile, she described the FGDs as “a riot,” comically interrupted by wailing babies, crowing roosters, curious neighbors and sputtering tricycles. To address these circumstances, solutions by way of adjustments in project budgets, and determining the best time and space in which to communicate with respondents, among others, were shared.

Dr. Racelis saw the brighter side of “othering” and “co-partnering” in a number of ways. One was that it became apparent that emergency situations bring out a community’s strengths. She observed that local officials who work closely with their constituents and earn their confidence go much farther in achieving success. In addition, there are advantages to having residents handle their own research, since they are familiar with their area and its existing circumstances; when trained to develop skills in how to ask questions, for example, co-partnering becomes mutually beneficial. However, to foster a more engaged anthropology, she acknowledged the need for academics to network with non-government organizations. She encouraged UGAT to help facilitate such linkages, which would enable researchers to provide essential data, and widen NGOs’ perspectives from their more immediate concerns to the larger needs of the nation.

Dr. Mary Racelis is a faculty member at the Institute of Philippine Culture of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Ateneo de Manila University School of Social Sciences. UGAT, or the Ugnayan Pang-Aghamtao/Anthropological Association of the Philippines, is the only organization of anthropologists in the country.