The collaboration of children and youth in Ecuadorian ethnographic research. Interlocution, production of knowledge and co-authorship

Abstract

This article takes up series of ethnographic investigation carried out in Ecuador between 2010 and 2018 that include collaborative investigation with children, adolescents and young people. The objective is to show how working with these actors influenced, in one way or another, in the research process. We are interested in highlighting the enormous potential for reflexivity and the production of knowledge that the exchanges made with these subjects have. We start by presenting the background of this article that was the construction of a panorama, also we write a brief reference on ethnography and the incorporation of children and youth in it. Then we approach a series of items that we are interested in highlighting from some research carried out in Ecuador: the forms of approaching and generating trust with children, the agency of children in the investigative process, their place to contribute in the process of researcher’s re-conceptualization and the feedback of the produced to the community. The conclusions are intended to motivate bold approaches to dialogue, production of knowledge and co-authorship with children and adolescents and young people.