Beyond research as a dirty word? Searching for ethical and reflexive ways of doing research with and for migrant communities

Abstract What do “white” migration researchers, such as myself, need to learn from over-researched (undocumented) migrant youth and indigenous communities that consider research a dirty word? And how do such assertions not lead to an impasse, but can actually enable scholars to conduct ethical and reflexive research that directly engages and benefits migrant communities throughout the research process? These are the central questions I seek to take up in this article by critically reflecting on my engaged research with undocumented migrant youth (activists) in Los Angeles and the Netherlands. Building on epistemological and ethical considerations and practices from participatory action research, co-creative research, and arts-based research, this article argues for four essential shifts in our modes of knowledge production, which are then empirically illustrated through a critical examination of my own research. These four shifts are: (1) a move from epistemic violence and injustice to epistemic justice, (2) a move from damage-centred to desire-based research, (3) a move from singular to comprehensive narratives, and (4) a move from extractavist to engaged research.