Giving back and the moral logics of economic relations

Abstract

This paper uses David Graeber’s work on the moral grounds of economic relations as a vantage point from which to reflect on the ethics of giving back in field research, drawing on my own fieldwork experiences in Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka as well as examples from existing literature. I argue that Graeber’s exposition of different moral logics for economic relations – hierarchy, exchange and communism – provides a valuable set of conceptual distinctions for thinking through what is owed by, and to, researchers in different research interactions. In addition to a recognition of the incommensurability of what is often being exchanged, this approach responds to the danger of researchers setting the terms of ethical interaction, through distant institutional processes and practices built on logics of exchange, in ways that might constrain the ability of interlocutors to meaningfully articulate their own positions in fieldwork relations.

From ground to cloud: Navigating research in digital geographies

“…In this context, moving from ground to cloud is the challenging, iterative work of building and bounding a pathway for inquiry through interlinked on-and offline spaces. Analogous to Ian Russell's (2022) notion of "mid-range ethics," ground to cloud provides a guide for reflexively navigating between abstract principles, on one hand, and the specific techniques and often unanticipated choices faced in the field, on the other hand. As such, it should be adapted to sites and circumstances and over time, Figure 2 invites consideration of a vast range of potential combinations, including (clockwise from top left) remote methods for understanding material practices, digital archives of digital activity, inperson interviews about online activities, and good old-fashioned ethnography.…”