Blog Phase 2

Part of the reason this blog fizzled out is because my research in Lubumbashi fizzled out. I concluded that I had proposed an impossible project, and much of the last year was spent finding a way forward. All roads led to relocating my research in South Africa. While I am now restarting fieldwork closer to home, this is intimidating for a number of reasons.

I've always been quite happy with my clear status as an outsider. I can't vote, I've worked for organisations with an international focus, and I consider myself exempt from participating in public political debates. I'm interested in South Africa and try to keep across the news, but always defer to what South Africans think of South Africa.

I shifted my research here rather grudgingly, and still hadn't quite come to terms with the idea that I would now have to say things about the country that I live in. I find this changing rapidly, as I simultaneously come to terms with the reality of raising a child in one of the most unequal countries in the world. Somehow, having the well being of my (future) child tied up in this country gives me much more incentive (and legitimacy) to know more, and talk more, about what works and what doesn't.