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

Students seemed quick to trust us, perhaps because we were working within a “known”
environment. The fact that all interviews were conducted in a space they knew well and
at their convenience helped to ensure that they were comfortable and felt free to speak
openly. The fact that we are all students helped us to be more approachable, particularly
among the A-Level pupils whom we were close to age. As we were introduced to the staff
as students working with the School of Women and Gender Studies at Makerere (see
appendix 1), they were able to view us as undergraduate students - a much less
threatening identity than that of “foreign researcher”.
Environment
There is always a risk, particularly in school-based studies that students will provide
answers that they “think you want to hear”, rather than giving true accounts of their
experiences (Van Blerk 2006:55). Over the course of the interviews, which in most cases
were 45minutes to an hour long, contradictory accounts were given and we have had to
use our judgement and observations to determine the most likely truth (Harrison
2006:65). Though every effort was taken to explain to participants that there were no
right answers and that the research was only interested in their real life experiences, it
was important to analyse material gathered with this limitation in mind. It is also very
possible that some pupils and students felt unable to speak freely for fear of getting into
trouble with the institutional authorities. This may also explain why the majority of
students were unwilling to claim first-hand experience of, for example, relationships with
teachers or older men, instead reporting cases of other students who had become
pregnant or been expelled.
Conducting research in an unfamiliar cultural context proved challenging, especially in
the early phases. Although English is widely spoken, particular words and phrases needed
defining, thus allowing us to engage in a locally relevant manner and decipher
participants’ intended meaning. For ethical reasons we avoided talking about sexuality
and ethnicity because these were sensitive topics that were not openly talked about
amongst our participants. These are important points of analysis to consider when
researching identity in social geography which have been discussed in relation to gender
and ‘race’ and are key components when studying ‘young adults’.
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