Teaching fieldwork in Senegal

Towards a collective reflexivity at the crossroads of North-South relationships

Abstract

Based on the experience of an introductory course to field research in social sciences, this article discusses the teaching of fieldwork methodology as a combination of scientific and disciplinary knowledge, of socially situated practices, and of adaptation skills. Reflexivity, as a critical approach to the process of data collection and to the use of these data, is constructive when it allows to share experiences during the scientific and empirical learning process. Adopting a reflexive stance leads both learners and teachers to question their research and pedagogic frameworks in relation to the conditions of data production, in this case in a context of North-South relations, and to mobilize their abilities to understand the complexity of social reality. The concrete fieldwork experience provides the opportunity for teachers to support students in their process of developing both research and personal know-how when interacting with research participants and local residents. It is then up to the teachers to prepare the learners to be surprised by the fieldwork in both its fascinating and unsettling aspects.