Doing fieldwork in the South: A view on transnational migration, global borders and critical methodologies

This two-day online event will bring together international and interdisciplinary scholars across the social sciences who have worked closely on decolonial perspectives, border practices and the migrant population in the Americas. These seminars aim to advance the discussion on conducting fieldwork in the Global South by adopting interdisciplinary, feminist and decolonial methodologies and conceptualisations on global borders, vulnerable individuals and transnational migration.

Event description

What political and ethical roles do researchers play in conducting ethnographies and interviews with vulnerable people?

What are some of the methodological, emotional and political challenges we face during fieldwork?

How do we address colonial legacies, the heteropatriarchal system and bordering practices in the Global South?

Bearing some of these questions in mind this event will explore the impact that methodological choices, design and process may have on people’s lived experiences, especially at the crossroad of bordering practices, representations, feminism and the process of subjectification.

These even will explore the themes of affects, emotions, art, gender, collective struggles and the colonial implications that underlie border constructions and migratory processes. With the Latin American context as the backdrop, innovative methodologies have emerged from the Global South to address the ongoing challenges of fieldwork and the research alongside participants. Therefore, the aim of this event is to critically engage with different perspectives to understand people’ obstacles, the bonds made with researchers and activists, and the extent to which scholarly work contributes to dismantling the construction of governance control, gender regimes, and structural violence and everyday bordering.

Seminar Schedule

The meeting link will be sent out separately to all participants closer to the event.

If you require more information or have any queries, you can contact me through the following email address: erika.herrera-rosales@warwick.ac.uk 


This workshop is organised by Erika Herrera Rosales and Ali Shair