Reimaging Ethics of Research with Refugees and Migrants

A Collaborative Autoethnography on the Ethics of Research

Abstract

This article employs a collaborative autoethnography (CAE) to examine how institutional research ethics frameworks shape the experiences of racialized graduate students conducting research with refugees and migrants. Grounded in intersectional feminist, the analysis interrogates how researchers’ positionalities intersect with institutional processes to shape access, participation, and knowledge production. From our analysis, two central themes emerge. First, Colonial Ethics of Care highlights how Western research ethics, oriented toward liability management and institutional protection, often silence marginalized voices and reproduce colonial logics of care. We argue for reframing ethics through relational accountability and community participation that foreground dignity, reciprocity, and justice. Second, The Ethics of Access: Resources and Support demonstrates that access extends beyond regulatory approval, encompassing financial constraints, institutional gatekeeping, and cultural misalignments that shift the burden of ethical responsibility onto individual researchers. Together, these themes underscore that ethical research with marginalized communities requires moving beyond procedural compliance toward practices of solidarity, care, and more resources for researchers.