Project
Journal Articles
How does shared identity between the researcher and the researched influence trust-building for data generation and knowledge production? We reflect on this question based on two studies conducted by African-based researchers in sociology and political science in Nigeria. We advanced two interrelated positions. The first underscores the limits of national belonging as shorthand for insiderness. In contrast, the second argues that when shared national/group identity is tensioned, other intersecting positions and relations take prominence. We also show that the research challenges and resists unequal power relations through interview refusal or by evading issues that the researcher considers necessary, but the participant perceives as intrusive. We shed light on the vagaries, overlaps, and similarities in the dynamics of belonging and positionality in researching Africans in and outside Africa as home-based researchers. Our contribution advances the understanding of field dynamics in producing local and cross-border knowledge on Africa/Africans.
Emeka T. Njoku, Joshua Akintayo, and Idris, Mohammed. 2025 Positionality and Knowledge Production on Conflict-related Sexual Violence against Men in Counter-terrorism Context, International Studies Perspectives
Kudus O. Adebayo and Emeka T. Njoku 2023. Local and Transnational Identity, Positionality and Knowledge Production in Africa and the African Diaspora. Field Methods
Working paper
In the Shadow of the Nigerian Civil War: Reflexivity on the Lived Experiences of Children of Survivors Studying Conflict, Security and Violence (with Ernest Nnabuihe)
Navigating 'Political Undesirability': Identity Negotiations in Critical Terrorism Research in Nigeria (Joshua Akintayo)