Ambivalent refusals: Epistemological limits in postcolonial ethnography

Abstract

This article explores the complexities of positionality encountered during ethnographic research with Jamaican scammers in Montego Bay, as reflected in Scammer’s Yard. The research brought into focus the social and racial hierarchies that shape not only Jamaican society but also academic methodologies, particularly when researchers from more privileged backgrounds attempt to understand and represent marginalized communities. Through discussions of “sufferation,” the scammers’ refusal to grant proximity revealed the epistemological limits of traditional academic frameworks, exposing how even critical engagements with colonial legacies often remain bound by those same power structures. Drawing on theorists such as Édouard Glissant, C.L.R. James and Sylvia Wynter, this article argues for a radical rethinking of how knowledge is produced and represented in postcolonial contexts. The scammers’ rejection of intellectual incorporation opens the possibility for new epistemological frameworks that embrace ambivalence and opacity, allowing for more transformative and authentic engagements with Black life. By moving beyond universalizing tendencies and inherited colonial structures, this article seeks to reimagine intellectual projects that are not confined by the limitations of existing academic discourse, offering new pathways for understanding postcolonial realities.