Negotiating Consent in African Studies
Informed consent has been increasingly equated with standardized models and legal jargon. At Scandinavian universities, researchers are expected to adhere to European standardized models and institutional forms, necessitating documentable (preferably signed) consent from research participants. As A...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nordic Africa Research Network
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Nordic Journal of African Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/1376 |
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| author | Amanda Moller Rasmussen Rune Larsen Stig Jensen |
| author_facet | Amanda Moller Rasmussen Rune Larsen Stig Jensen |
| author_sort | Amanda Moller Rasmussen |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Informed consent has been increasingly equated with standardized models and legal jargon. At Scandinavian universities, researchers are expected to adhere to European standardized models and institutional forms, necessitating documentable (preferably signed) consent from research participants. As Africanist researchers, we observe a growing dissonance between institutional expectations and fieldwork ethics and moralities. The field of African Studies has been pivotal in revealing how knowledge practices that are ostensibly universal are, in fact, products of deep-seated inequalities in higher education and knowledge production, perpetuating Western ideals of ethics. This introduction advocates for “customized consent” and introduces three concepts – consent contexts, consent interests, and consent mediators – to address and positively transform informed consent procedures and expectations.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4dbd79887e9f4f8bbe89bd997f5f7115 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1459-9465 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Nordic Africa Research Network |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nordic Journal of African Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-4dbd79887e9f4f8bbe89bd997f5f71152025-08-20T03:23:56ZengNordic Africa Research NetworkNordic Journal of African Studies1459-94652025-06-0134210.53228/w727yg66Negotiating Consent in African StudiesAmanda Moller Rasmussen0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2920-7382Rune Larsen1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4653-4465Stig Jensen2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8177-2293 Department of Anthropology, Aarhus University / Research Assistant Center for Military Studies, Copenhagen UniversityIndependent ResearcherCentre for African Studies, Copenhagen University Informed consent has been increasingly equated with standardized models and legal jargon. At Scandinavian universities, researchers are expected to adhere to European standardized models and institutional forms, necessitating documentable (preferably signed) consent from research participants. As Africanist researchers, we observe a growing dissonance between institutional expectations and fieldwork ethics and moralities. The field of African Studies has been pivotal in revealing how knowledge practices that are ostensibly universal are, in fact, products of deep-seated inequalities in higher education and knowledge production, perpetuating Western ideals of ethics. This introduction advocates for “customized consent” and introduces three concepts – consent contexts, consent interests, and consent mediators – to address and positively transform informed consent procedures and expectations. https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/1376customised consentconsent contextsconsent interestsconsent mediatorsAfrican Studies |
| spellingShingle | Amanda Moller Rasmussen Rune Larsen Stig Jensen Negotiating Consent in African Studies Nordic Journal of African Studies customised consent consent contexts consent interests consent mediators African Studies |
| title | Negotiating Consent in African Studies |
| title_full | Negotiating Consent in African Studies |
| title_fullStr | Negotiating Consent in African Studies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Negotiating Consent in African Studies |
| title_short | Negotiating Consent in African Studies |
| title_sort | negotiating consent in african studies |
| topic | customised consent consent contexts consent interests consent mediators African Studies |
| url | https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/1376 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT amandamollerrasmussen negotiatingconsentinafricanstudies AT runelarsen negotiatingconsentinafricanstudies AT stigjensen negotiatingconsentinafricanstudies |