Pretty Fly for a White Guy? Researching Across Cultures

One of my excellent students has been having a pretty interesting time lately working on a study of parenting in Kenya.... this week we had a look through the interviews she conducted and were pretty disturbed....she was exploring positive parenting practices and the obstacles to them.....I cant tell you too much at this point but lets just say that our view of the challenges to parenting are pretty different in Kenya where poverty, struggle, violence, threats to your child's life are part of normal life...

I have been reading lots of papers and articles..on Critical Reflexivity, Post-Colonial research, 'Whiteness Studies' and more..

It seems we have done a few things right..we have included local Kenyan professionals and academics to help mediate against our own bias.......on the down side, however, we have really not been able to engage in real particpatory research on the ground, engaging local interviewers, asking parents to help us with our 'analysis' or fostering change and self-determination by local parents or parent groups...we have also shied away from journaling, from writing in the first person, from engaging in Situational Analysis or other forms of critical reflection and positioning...

..this book seems essential...