Processing Privilege: Reflections on Fieldwork (Early, and otherwise) among Beng Villagers of Côte d'Ivoire

In this article, I reflect on the misconceptions and knowledge gaps that shaped my first fieldwork among Beng villagers in Côte d'Ivoire (1979–81). Focusing on issues surrounding race and class, I discuss the role that privilege played in my early ethnographic work and compare my naïve, early assumptions with the approach I took in return visits and in continuing, long-distance engagements. I conclude by emphasizing that ethical qualitative research methods conducted by (especially, but not exclusively, white) scholars from the global North in the global South require thinking in the first instance about the politics of race and class, and about the implications and responsibilities of privilege.