Negotiating Participatory Ethics in the Midst of Institutional Ethics

Abstract

This paper proposes participatory ethics as a framework from which we might begin to proactively engage some of the contradictions and gaps inherent in institutional ethical frameworks. A growing number of researchers negotiate ethical dilemmas encountered in research or expectations for what constitutes ethical research practice in collaborative dialogue with research participants. I show how participatory ethics are premised on very different assumptions, practices and subjectivities than those of institutional ethics, but create a forum for dialogue and reflective practice that is essential for engaging some of the shortcomings of institutional ethics.