Peripheral positionality: conducting ethnography with youth as a researcher from the “Peripheries”

Abstract

This article focuses on the concept of “peripheral” positionality based on my experiences as a non-Western researcher negotiating multiple positions as assigned and contested by gatekeepers, participants, and parents during the ethnographic research that I conducted on youth, digital practices, and peacebuilding in Rwanda. In this context, the concept of “peripheries” is not employed as a binary to characterize the “center” as the “Western” perspective. Rather, it serves to highlight the experiences as distinct from those that appear in the accounts of Western researchers conducting research in Africa or Africans conducting research in their “home.” I demonstrate that although I was an “outsider” as a non-Rwandan researcher, the way I was perceived resulted in experiences that were different than those I had expected. The article shows that reflecting on peripheral positionality can reveal the structural inequalities and power dynamics encountered by both researchers and interlocutors, which complicates yet also enriches the research process.