The Messy Negotiation of Power, Context, and Self in Constructing a Global Researcher Identity

The formation of researcher identity is complex and evolves over various experiences, including international fieldwork and research. Especially important to consider is how power dynamics impact the development of researcher identity in the cases of international research between the Global North and Global South. This study uses phenomenological and decolonial approaches to analyze 23 interviews of faculty from India and the United Kingdom who have worked on UK-India research projects in the field of social sciences. Salient themes on how power and being were constructed, challenged, or negotiated by the participants include how researchers locate themselves in the paradigm of Global North and Global South, how they navigate casteism, and how researchers resisted power hierarchies as part of their identity and practice. While some themes manifested similarly for both British and Indian faculty, others were more prevalent among a particular group. This paper contributes to understanding how faculty construct their researcher identities as global researchers. It provides a comparative perspective on how faculty understand power dynamics in international research partnerships in relation to their researcher identities.