The article explores processes of identity construction. It specifically looks
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a Colombian researcher in the shanty towns of northern Mexico, the paper looks
into respondents' responses to non- white, non-western researchers while doing
fieldwork. My own fieldwork experiences revealed that local images of Colombians
as ‘southerners’ conflicted with local expectations about researchers. This
situation forced me to adopt the identity respondents felt best suited me
locally. Besides stating that not all researchers in the developing world are
white, western and in a powerful position, the paper highlights that the
construction of identities takes place ‘through’ and not outside difference.
This process allowed me to understand the contradictory processes that lead to
successful feminist alliances being formed with the ‘other’ in a research
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