Guesthood and Analytical Openness
Ritual, Personhood and the New Animism - Essays in Honour of Graham Harvey - Paul-Francois Tremlett
Bjørn Ola Tafjord [+]
University of Tromsø
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Description
In my view, Graham Harvey’s ‘Guesthood as Ethical Decolonising Research Method’ (2003) is one of the most groundbreaking essays from religious studies in the past twenty years. It argues that foreign researchers should submit to local protocols for visitors and thus allow the receiving community to determine whether to accept them as proper guests or reject their research plans. This is especially important wherever colonial relations continue to affect the life of communities and individuals, more so because researchers and research often have been accomplices to colonialism. According to Harvey, observing local protocols is not only a matter of research ethics and politics of decolonialization but also a way to adopt methods and develop trustful relations that permit more nuanced insights into complex asymmetrical situations and contexts. I will make the case that we could go even farther than Harvey goes when we consider the scholarly benefits of the attitude and approach that he proposes. In addition to learning about historical and methodological issues, by respecting, recognizing, and reflecting on the procedures of our hosts and the positions they offer us, we may, if we practice intellectual openness like Harvey does, achieve an expanding our theoretical perspectives. The analytical practices of our hosts may help us revise and refine our own analysis. To acknowledge this, we need not relinquish any of the basic scientific requirements that the university prescribes. On the contrary, we may become sharper scholars if we strive to combine several lines of critical and creative thinking and acting. Indeed, Harvey’s scholarly production proves this point.