Experiences of local research assistants in field research. Support for Western scientists in the Kavango East region, Namibia

Abstract

The research assistants’ roles towards supporting visiting European researchers in Namibia was understudied and their recognitions remain in the side-lines of acknowledgement sections of the research outputs, sometimes in pseudonym names only but this has changed. Researchers now question their past practices and suggest the need to explore deeper the central roles of research assistants in the making of ethnographic data collection process and outputs. This paper followed a qualitative approach of engaging in oral interviews but also on a self-reflexive approach which supports analysis of personal experiences of individuals to discuss the experiences of research assistants in supporting western researchers in Namibia. Centrally the following questions were asked: what were the motivations for becoming research assistants; what were the central roles or responsibilities of research assistants in shaping the field workspace, data collection process and analysis; what relations existed between research assistants and researchers beyond the field work experiences and what is the future of the collected oral materials or voices of the African communities? The paper asserts that the acknowledgement and recognitions of research assistants’ roles and contributions by researchers fall short of expectations. Further, post- field work relations shed light on positive opportunities for research assistants to excel which is availed by researchers. The paper points to the need for policy reform that speaks to ensuring that western researchers deposit oral interview materials in the National Archives of Namibia or to relevant research institutions so as to benefit the present and future generation of the African communities from which these oral data were extracted.