Exploring or exporting? Qualitative methods in times of globalisation

Abstract

Europeanism, westernism and methodological imperialism all refer to the classic criticism of Western research in non-Western contexts. Though I welcome the debate, I find arguments based on simple binary oppositions and descriptions problematic. This debate is better positioned as one about the quality of qualitative research. With reference to the criticism I ask if contemporary qualitative research is stuck in old problems. Based on my ethnographic data from East Africa I show that the pitfalls of Western research that are pointed to in classic criticisms are the outcome of old models and poor analytic work. I also show that contemporary ‘Western’ qualitative research offers analytic alternatives that better allow us to capture local non-Western contexts. Nonetheless, I welcome new epistemologies emerging from non-Western philosophies and practices not yet known in the hegemonic West.