ON WHOSE TERMS? Communication, Collaboration and Power in Development Research

A common issue related to collaboration with both the South and the North is the assumptions connoted to the knowledge production of the global West, through an implicit understanding of a global Western academic superiority over the global Rest. This ye ar's NFU conference asks questions as; How researchers can by-pass these implicit, and sometimes explicit, preconceived asymmetries for joint knowledge production? How can we interact and collaborate in ways that may meet purposes and expectations for all parties? Do the researchers's gender, ethnicity and class background play a role and in what way? And what are the ethical consequences of taking these aspects into consideration? Although the exploration and understanding of foreign cultures and the Ot her is fundamental to Development Studies, there are relatively few examples of works that explicitly address the challenges associated with translation, making sense of and comparison between life worlds, cultures and academic practices within the field. The reports of increased problems in collaboration and cross-cultural understanding are many. We, the actors in this field need a reorientation towards understanding our informants and collaborators' needs and interests, and a more reflexive understandin g of collaboration itself. In accordance with the recent ethnographic turn in development research, this conference seeks to shed light on intercultural communication and collaboration in gathering research material and producing knowledge. The sharing of comparative experiences in inter-university collaboration could generate knowledge relevant for both the North and the South, and work to meet the challenges and problems of asymmetry and dichotomisation.