Podcast #1: Humans studying Humans (ASC)

Looking at the importance of story-telling and the position of researchers who have a significant influence on how such a story is disseminated, we can point out several issues that come to mind. First, the fact that the researcher gets something from the participant and turns it into something the participant cannot understand. Second, the participant tends to give and is hardly ever given; they share their story and are not provided anything in return. Third, marginalized groups are often used for their position in society and the (hard) environment they are living in leading to the creation of stereotypes. We can see these issues in fields such as anthropology, social sciences and even medicine.

In this panel, we would like to discuss the several ways in which academia studies different cultures and people. The aim of this panel is to provide the audience with examples and explanations on how research (both quantitative and qualitative) can be conducted while at the same time paying respect to the participants and their stories. Topics mentioned above will be tackled with the help of academics who are working in different fields and face these problems in varies ways. Instead of adhering to the typical manner of doing research, they have found ways to respect their data and participants.

We would like to use this panel and platform to give our fellow students and academics the opportunity to engage in a meaningful discussion which can alter the way we do research. Both the audience and academics would receive a first-hand experience from the topics discussed in the panel.

The African Students Community is the biggest student association in the northern Netherlands focusing on the promotion of African matters and African affairs. More about our initiative can be found here.