Cartographies in confluences: emerging affectivities from the encounter with madness in conflict with the law

Abstract

Qualitative research, specifically ethnographic research, brings challenges to the current ethical review system in Brazil. In these studies, theory is constructed from the intertwined relationship with practice. Moreover, it is not research carried out in, but with people and/or social groups, built from an intersubjective and also affective relationship. To reflect on ethics, power, subjectivities, and affectivities, I start out from a case study, the research that I have been developing for more than a decade on madness in conflict with the law. Obtaining informed consent, maintaining (or not) anonymity, preserving the image of the participants, paying for participation in the research, returning the results, and evaluating risks and benefits are some of the reflections that permeate this study. Doing an ethnography means getting involved in another reality, affecting and being affected by others. Recognizing this reflexivity means expanding what is understood by ethics and (re)politicizing its use. It is about evoking a broad sense of ethics in research, which encompasses a different scientific and also political sensibility.