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Africa Knows! It is time to decolonise minds

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Accepted Paper: D23-03. To panel D23.

Title of paper:

Author:

Getnet Tadele (Addis Ababa).

Long abstract paper:
Sexuality is a sensitive and sometimes taboo issue to discuss, practice, research and disseminate openly in many societies. Leave alone in relatively conservative societies like Ethiopia, Irvine's (2014) article shows that sex research remains socially problematic even in the western world.I have been engaged in researching and publishing on the subjects of sexuality and HIV/AIDS since the 1990s. I have undertaken a number of studies, both published or not, related to sexuality in Ethiopia. Some of these studies were perceived as incriminating, exceedingly intimate or 'discrediting' to the researcher and the researched. Researching such topics poses not only difficulty in accessing informants but also include wider issues regarding the ethics and politics of research, and collecting, analysing and publishing the data without jeopardizing the wellbeing of the researcher and informants. This paper uses self-reflective accounts such as personal recollections and correspondences as primary sources of data to explore the intricacies and challenges of researching and publishing topics of sexuality by a straight, male Ethiopian academic. Overall, researching and publishing about sexuality topics in Ethiopia continues to pose considerable challenges and controversies, which may hamper serious scientific investigations as well as create extreme frustration for potential investigators and authors. We should, therefore, do more to identify, discuss and implement strategies for conducting and publishing research on this sensitive topic. Such studies on uncharted territories however seem to have given insight and courage to other researchers and the public at large and it is encouraging to see a few other studies emerging on sensitive and hitherto taboo topics. The significance of such studies cannot be overstated in prompting future researchers to dare engage with these sensitive topics and equipping them to better navigate the inevitable challenges associated with them.

Key words: Reflexivity, politics of sexuality research, publication, Ethiopia.