Reflections on the interplay between procedural, relational and socio-political ethics in ethnographic research with West-African women working in prostitution in Brussels

摘要

Purpose - This study aims to explore and discuss the ethical challenges that the authors encountered in the SWTPSER project, a study about the well-being of West-African women who work in the red-light district in Brussels. Design/methodology/approach - The study was commissioned by the municipality of Schaerbeek and executed by a Nigerian-Belgian research team. Data were collected using a multi-method qualitative approach, predominantly through ethnographic fieldwork that consisted of detailed observations, informal interviews (with 38 participants), complemented by document analysis and stakeholder interviews. Findings - The study presents the main ethical dilemmas in four themes: (1) representing diversity, i.e. how do we get access to all members of a migrant community that is inherently hierarchical?; (2) in the margin, i.e. how can we conduct research with undocumented migrants and what do we do when faced with violence and injustice?; (3) attraction and repulsion, i.e. what ethical consequences are involved when working in a multiethnic research team?; and (4) unveiling secrets, i.e. which ethical challenges are we faced with when presenting the results of research on vulnerable migrant communities? Originality/value - This study goes beyond procedural research ethics and highlights the specific relational ethics (related to the relation between research(er) and participant) and the socio-political ethics (related to the relation between the research(er) and the socio-political context) involved in qualitative research with female migrants who work in prostitution.