DOING RESEARCH, WRITING POLITICS - THE DILEMMAS OF POLITICAL INTERVENTION IN RESEARCH ON RACISM

What are the ethical and political dilemmas faced in carrying out rese arch on racism? This paper explores this question by drawing on our fi eldwork experience in the course of doing research on the local polici es of race in Birmingham. The initial premise is that it is impossible to see research in this field as simply an information-gathering proc ess. Rather we argue that it is important to see how researcher and re searched interact, the identities which are expressed and generated in these interactions, and how racism features within the research proce ss. The second half of the paper focuses on the dilemmas of becoming i nvolved in political debates through the research process itself.