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Notes on Care, Positionality, and the Slow Work of Witnessing in the Field: A Photo Essay Series – Part 2

    By Anushree

    Stories don’t always come as words in the field. Sometimes they arrive in the pauses between sentences, in a shifting of the eyes, in what remains unsaid. Silence, too, becomes part of what is offered. Sometimes, people choose not to speak, and that too is part of the story.
    One afternoon, the woman you are interviewing says she’ll take you to the other side, where your team is waiting.

    Beyond the survey questionnaire: Local field guides and enumerators as anchors of fieldwork in India’s precarious contexts

      By Dr. Neha Adsul

      One of the most powerful lessons I have learned as the Country Coordinator for the GEMMS India is that survey data collection is not just about field work; it is about building trust, navigating uncertainty, and staying grounded in the everyday realities of people’s lives. Nowhere was this more evident than in the indispensable role played by our field guides and locally recruited enumerators throughout the survey process.

      Layers, Borders and Belonging: Through the Eyes of an Early Career Researcher

        By Doofan Udendeh

        A few months ago, I stepped into a new role—hungry, hopeful, and eager to begin my journey in research after completing my MSc in Global Public Health. Almost immediately, I was immersed in the layered and ambitious world of GEMMS. It felt like stepping into a vast, interdisciplinary ecosystem—complex, fascinating, and sometimes overwhelming. I’d liken it to an onion: each layer revealed something new. For weeks I was trying to make sense of this vibrant, dynamic collective that spanned continents, disciplines, and perspectives.

        Anchoring the research in communities: PAR Experiences with farm workers in Musina, South Africa

          By Blessing Mukuruva

          Participatory Action Research (PAR), by its very nature, emphasises both participation and action by community members affected by the research. Rooted in community engagement, PAR seeks to understand the world by collaboratively working to change it. Motivated by the desire to disrupt cycles of gendered violence and poor mental health among migrants living in precarious conditions, our research group saw PAR as a critical tool in fulfilling this mandate.

          Reflection on Comfort, Space, and Belonging – A GEMMS Dialogue at Melon Farm

            By Stanley Tiffah Zauya

            On a lovely Sunday morning, the quiet hum of preparation filled the air at Melon Farm as we got ready to host a Community Dialogue under the GEMMS initiative. Like many community events, the logistics came together with a mixture of planning and improvisation. We began by setting up our folding chairs while waiting for the ones we had borrowed from the nearby church. The borrowed chairs came in all shapes and states — cracked backs, uneven legs, a DIY wooden bench, and a handful that were still perfectly usable.

            Reflecting on Wellbeing of Transnational Mothers in Johannesburg Inner City: Insights from my PhD Study

              By Thulie Zikhali

              ‘…they were people who saw my decision to come to SA as irresponsible but then I told myself that if these people are not going to help me with money to take care of my children, then they are in no position to decide what I want to do with my life… my own mother passed away two weeks before I left for SA and so people were saying this was not the right time for me to leave…’ (MaNdebele, 04-10-18)

              In the pursuit of pride

                By Mukul Bhowmick.

                The month of June ushers in global celebrations of LGBTQ+ identities and rainbow filters across social media. Building on my work and readings of same-sex sexualities in India, I reflect on some realities of queer mobilities through a fictional character of a gay man.