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Abstract
In this paper, I reflect upon and discuss findings from an empirical study that employed a postcolonial feminist approach to a multi-sited global ethnography of a sport for development and peace (SDP) initiative. Building on postcolonial feminist perspectives pertaining the importance of creating cross-border feminist solidarities anchored in struggles in the specificities of ‘the local’, in combination with recent work on research on transnational global activist research that explores issues of NGOization, I investigate two key methodological challenges and tensions that emerged in my research, including: (1) the politics and perils of translation in cross-cultural research; and (2) the technologies of aid evaluation and ethics of representation. I conclude by critically considering struggles of power, knowledge and social relations in local and transnational SDP, and discuss possibilities for mutual accountability and ethical responsibility in future SDP research, policy and practice.
Acknowledgments
I am eternally grateful to the organisations and young women who participated and collaborated on this study, and to Wendy Frisby, Audrey Giles, Annelies Knoppers and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. I would also like to express my gratitude to Margaret MacNeill, Bruce Kidd and my doctoral committee for their guidance and thoughtful suggestions on my dissertation, upon which this article is based. A version of this article was presented at the fourth International Conference for Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise held at Loughborough University in September 2014. Any opinion, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. It is important to clarify that I did not fully engage in PAR or institutional ethnographic approaches for this study, but was inspired by the tools they offer for conducting research.
2. This study has been the basis for several other publications, and as such, it is important to note that this section is similar to those previously published (Hayhurst Citation2013, Citation2014a, Darnell and Hayhurst Citation2014).
3. Two individuals were interviewed twice as their first interviews revealed responses that required further probing.
4. Winitia is a fictional name of the village where SNGO operated.
5. I do not name the country in Western Europe where INGO is based for a number of reasons. First, this is an international NGO where employees are constantly working in multiple and diverse locations (including in the 20 countries where the programmes they fund are based). As such, the staff do not work primarily in the INGO’s head office, but work often remotely in various locations, including those across Western Europe (hence the decision to broadly situate them in this region). Second, if I were to identify the specific country where both INGO and SNGO were based, it would potentially result in jeopardising the anonymity of each organisation.
6. Although many of the staff from TNC and INGO also spoke English as a second language, they were nonetheless able to conduct the entire interview in English.
7. The general themes of the interview guide were discussed with staff from each entity, with the exclusion of TNC. The focus of this study was primarily on INGO and SNGO’s understandings of aid relations and SDP programmes and the ways that they impact beneficiaries, therefore, the goal was to ensure they were conferred with as much as possible throughout the research. Thus, staff from SNGO and INGO staff contributed to developing the protocol after careful consultation and various meetings held over Skype™, email and in person from May-December 2009. However, no staff member reviewed the full interview guide.
8. As one of the key leaders of SNGO’s martial arts programme, it made sense to interview Trisha for this research. She also had the best command of English in comparison to other SNGO staff members who were available to translate, and also was trusted by the girls, which made her a logical choice in terms of conducting the translation for this research.
9. This section is similar to, and extends, work cited in Hayhurst (Citation2014b, p. 59).
10. This section builds on other work drawing attention to the technologies of aid evaluation and representation as originally cited in Hayhurst (Citation2011a) and are further explored in Darnell and Hayhurst (Citation2014).