Conducting ethnographic work with the cucapáh indigenous community

In this paper, I present three important ethical elements of conducting ethnographic research with Indigenous groups, based on my research with the Cucapáh Indigenous group: reciprocity with participants, access to participants, and conducting fieldwork with a permanent physical disability. I have conducted research with the Cucapáh Indigenous people to learn about their political thought (focusing on their relationality with the land and cosmovision) and self-determination struggles for over three years. The discussion of forms and methods to practice reciprocity with fieldwork participants has been addressed in different disciplines, especially anthropology. However, I present a differentiated approach to ethnographic fieldwork, based on a counter-hegemonic anthropology, in a decolonial way, guided by the Cucapáh participants I conducted the research with. I practiced what I call “suampushá reciprocity”, basing on the needs and context of the Cucapáh people I interacted with. On the other hand, regarding access to participants, I directly contacted different families, through a combination of snowball techniques and through what I call “humidity-like pervasiveness”, instead of going with the authorities or leaders of the community. I will discuss the rationale and results of these proposed methods in the paper. Finally, I also discuss the implications, obstacles, and nuances of conducting fieldwork as a scholar with a permanent physical disability. This is a much needed discussion that has been ignored in academia, with important implications for how PhD studies, fieldwork, and funding are conceived and the hegemonic power relations implied in them.