Performing Identities in Urban Spaces; Kampala, Uganda - Royal ...

Fig 5:
Limitations
The method used produced a great deal of useful and interesting data, however there
were a number of limitations which necessarily affected the material collected:
Researcher Positionality:
Our group identity as white European females was significant in this study and all data
collected was necessarily affected by how we were viewed (Momsen 2006). There was a
risk that the unequal power relations between a researcher from a wealthy country and
participants in an impoverished area at a “poor” school could be problematic (Van Blerk
2006:57; Harrison 2006:64). The effect of this was minimised by several factors. The fact
that I was known to be staying at an orphanage five minutes from the school made my
situation more relatable for participants - one boy from the orphanage also attended St
Annes which helped make me a “known” entity. This, alongside the fact that I came to
them as a student, appears to have minimised the expectation of monetary benefits for
participation (Van Blerk 2006:57). In fact, despite describing their struggles to find fees
to attend school and the lack of resources, not a single person at the school once asked
me for so much as a pen.
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