Reflexivity

4.7.4.1 Reflexivity and the researcher’s role

As I was engaged in the data generation process through interviews, focus group interviews, observation and change laboratory workshop, I recognised the needed to take note of a number of things which at times were overlooked and which affected the data collection process. Reflexivity refers to self-transformative capacity and involves the use of knowledge to create further knowledge (Delanty, 2005). On the same Woolgar (1988) defined reflexivity as the willingness to probe beyond the level of straightforward interpretation and to explore how the biases and characteristics affect the research process.

The study was a fisheries study which was done within my working area, Mangochi District, where I worked for more than 11 years as a college lecturer and also as a District Fisheries Officer (see Section 1.3). Some of the tensions and contradictions emerged when I was working in the area meaning they were part of the system then. It was therefore important to understand my role and position in the study as an interventionist researcher. I was conscious of my role not only to share and document events but also to comment on discussions related to practical interventions to help stakeholders to engage with underlying causes of the current

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co-management practices. My role was to help all involved in this research to share and deliberate knowledge and facilitate knowledge creation through the deliberations at various levels to respond to a number of issues related to fisheries co-management (see Section 4.3). As noted above in Section 4.1, methodologically CHAT is a form of formative interventionist research that stresses the integration of basic theoretical work with empirical engagement (Somekh & Lewin, 2011, p. 185).

In order to take account of my role in the research and to make this more visible, I used thick description and included a number of direct quotes in the text (see Chapters 5,6 and 7). Direct quotes can also help the researcher to demonstrate reflexivity and awareness of the researcher-subject relationships. This on its own is not enough however, and the researcher needs to reflect on his or her awareness of the power relations that exist in the research setting, and that exist between the researcher and the people involved in the research. The researcher needs to show that he/she has sought to deal with this by giving voice to participants in a way that is not mediated by their own interpretations (Bryman & Bell, 2007, p. 714). This is reflected throughout the study and is highlighted in particular in Chapter 5 of the thesis.

4.7.4.2 Reflexivity and the fishery practice context

In the section above that describes the data generation process I outlined a number of research approaches used such as the interviews with different co-management stakeholders in the two case study areas and focus group discussions. However, what this section did not do, was explain how the context of practice influences how one can do such research. Interviews took a lot of time to set up, and I had to find ways of ‘catching’ fishers and BVC members when they were available, because fishing communities spend most of the day out on the lake fishing and when not out fishing, they tend to be busy maintaining their fishing gear. I therefore had to wait around until they could make time for me. Focus group discussions too had no specific pre-determined time allocated because the identified stakeholders could not easily be ‘tied down’ to a date, and I had to rely on their goodwill to come together and meet with me. In this regard, I was grateful that the BVCs used their organisational capacity to bring people together to meet with me.

For the change laboratory workshops some members came only on the first day while new members appeared on the second day. The workshop process took longer than expected because it had to provide a reflection of what took place the previous day particularly for the new members. This is not untypical of research in community contexts (e.g. Masara, 2011; Mukute, 2010) where research demonstrates that community members have many demands on their time. They are not generally regulated by modern institutional time regimes, but rather by the needs for livelihood construction and social engagement according to their

cultural and social norms and normalised practices. The researcher therefore needs to fit into these. The inclusion of other co-management stakeholders who were not in the workshops was noted as important by some participants and in subsequent workshops; efforts were made to include them. There was a mix of languages in all the workshops because of the diverse composition of participants and translations were made to make sure everyone understood what was going on.

4.7.4.3 Reflexivity in relation to the Fisheries Department and other institutions

At the end of the workshops I had an opportunity to meet the Director of Fisheries; he wanted to know about the progress of the research and about what was emerging from the research. An un-official reflection of the workshop deliberations was given and he requested that the department be given access to the recommendations to see if some of them could be dealt with. Some unofficial communications from colleagues who were present in the workshops gave further indications that the research might be beneficial to the department.

Chris Nyasa: Yes brother. The work you are doing Fisheries is going to benefit a lot if they are serious with the management of fisheries. Dzulo kunali meeting ya asodzi akuluakulu ndi Dept ndipo nkhani ngati zimene zija zamuworkshop yathu zinatulukannso. It was a good meeting only that we lacked the approach to present the issues to semi commercials. As a result important issues were not responded adequately. (Facebook personal communication, June 7, 2013)

For more than two years, I worked as a district fisheries officer in Mangochi where I was controlling the activities in the two current research areas (Lake Malombe and south-east arm of Lake Malawi). This meant that I was at that time the implementer of the co-management activities and the tensions and contradictions surfaced in the study were reflecting the work I was part of. However, it was very important to remember that now I was working as an interventionist researcher and my position and role in the research were very crucial. It was important to take into consideration my role as an interventionist researcher and acknowledge that I too look forward to new knowledge and ideas emerging from the study.