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Photo of Dalia Abdelhady.

Dalia Abdelhady

Associate Professor | Senior Lecturer

Photo of Dalia Abdelhady.

Embodied Oscillative Ethics : A Framework for Participatory Ethics in Body Mapping Research

Author

  • Mikaela Linell
  • Dalia Abdelhady

Summary, in English

This article presents an innovative participatory approach to the ethical aspects of conducting body mapping research. Drawing from experiences from an earlier project with digital sex workers, we examine how body mapping, when integrated with what we term “embodied oscillative ethics,” creates opportunities for meaningful collaboration and knowledge co-creation while addressing complex ethical challenges. We demonstrate how this creative methodology enables participants to become active knowledge producers rather than passive research subjects. The approach recognizes participants as experts of their own experiences while acknowledging the situated vulnerabilities they navigate. Embodied oscillative ethics highlights how ethical considerations should transcend the research design and bridge into the data collection process in a participatory way. Our findings reveal how body mapping’s creative and embodied dimensions, and the approach we suggest to complement it, facilitate participant empowerment and transformative dialogue. While body mapping helps explore embodied dimensions of digital interaction, the embodied oscillative ethics framework additionally ensures ethical practice through continuous attention to participant agency and consent. We also reflect critically on the researchers’ own vulnerabilities and positionalities when conducting sensitive research. This methodological innovation offers valuable insights for researchers studying topics that are difficult to approach, demonstrating how creative approaches can unveil alternative knowledge.

Department/s

  • Sociology
  • Department of Sociology
  • MECW: The Middle East in the Contemporary World

Publishing year

2025-08-16

Language

English

Publication/Series

International Journal of Qualitative Methods

Volume

24

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Universtity of Alberta

Topic

  • Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Anthropology, Demography and Criminology)

Keywords

  • participatory methods
  • collaborative research
  • body mapping
  • researcher reflexivity
  • transformative methodology
  • participant empowerment
  • digital vulnerabilities
  • creative methods
  • research ethics

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1609-4069