The Global Girls Project: A Case Study of Ethics and Education in the Field

This paper highlights the political and ethical challenges of projects that combine research, advocacy and pedagogy. These challenges are illustrated through the lens of the Global Girls: Autobiography and E-Literacy project, which took place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in 2008. Within Phnom Penh, there is a population of young women who work in bars, with the aim of forming transactional relationships with foreign men. They barter physical and emotional intimacy and friendship in exchange for various material and emotional benefits. They utilize many skills in order to maintain these relationships, including spoken and written English proficiency, and computer skills such as emailing and communication technology. The goal of the Global Girls Project was to harness those same skills to create a collaborative action-based educational research project focused on autobiography. The aim was to assist the women in improving their spoken and written English skills, grammar, typing, word processing and Internet skills, and in writing about personal history, family, self, future ambitions and career goals. The project aimed to create a space where women could network with one another, participate in dialogue about their experiences and lives, engage in collective action and solidarity, and build cross-sector friendships. This paper describes the practical details of the project, including its outcomes and limitations, as well as highlights some of the debates around action-based research and advocacy in anthropology. It also addresses the ethical and theoretical implications of becoming involved in education in field research settings, as well as the role of education as an ethnographic research tool, and the ways it can enhance and challenge the relationship between the anthropologist, participants, and communities in the field.