ABSTRACT
Researchers' very presence in Latin America conveys liberties and resources that elude most poor and working-class and many middle-class Latin Americans. Where equality is elusive, respect and reciprocity comprise the principal measures of ethical relationships; both are facilitated by transparency. Unequal power relations between interviewer and interviewee persist, even when scholars remove themselves completely from the interview. Striving not to arrogate interviewees' voices, scholars grapple with how to interpret their data in light of the asymmetrical power relations between interviewer and interviewee that introduce bias. As demonstrated by scholar-activists in Latin America and elsewhere who carefully maintain the integrity of both roles, research and activism need not be antithetical. Even as Latin American scholar-activists embrace a synergy between politics and scholarship, researchers concerned about the conflicts that develop when the two overlap are careful to guard against activism undermining the legitimacy of research processes or results.
