Been thinking about this a lot lately, so here goes… Fellow anthropologists, what exactly is stopping you from finding local collaborators & coauthors in your research? #decolonizing #anthropology

I get its not the precedent; our senior colleagues didn’t normalize this & research capacity in low-income countries was historically lower than it is now… but have you tried? Reached out to universities & research institutes where you work?

Not to throw shade at anyone in particular, but an example helps: How many publications & careers have been built on work with vulnerable populations like the Hadza or Maasai without a single Tanzanian or Kenyan coauthor? I suspect <5% of anthro papers include local coauthors.

I’m not claiming innocence, I’ve published with & without local collaborators - but moved towards the latter as I’ve gained my own independence in research design & learned that collaboration makes for more ethical research & better science.

It also makes a tangible difference to the careers & livelihoods of scholars from lower & middle-income countries. Even if their contribution is minimal. See for example:
https://academicjournals.org/journal/IJLIS/article-full-text-pdf/B8E9DF065829

It is a difficult conversation to have, & this post might make me unpopular. But junior researchers right now are asking this question of us. So what is your answer? Why is your next paper excluding voices of the people your profit from?