Vol. 34 No. 2 (2025): NJAS Special Issue: Negotiating Consent in African Studies
Special issue: Negotiating Consent in African Studies

Form, Formats, and Forms of Informed Consent: Bringing European GDPR Forms to Fieldwork in Namibia and Djibouti

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Rune Larsen
Globe Institute, Copenhagen University
Bio
Amanda Moller Rasmussen
Department of Anthropology, Aarhus University / Research Assistant Center for Military Studies, Copenhagen University
Bio

Published 2025-06-23

Keywords

  • consent forms,
  • informed consent,
  • GDPR,
  • fieldwork ethics,
  • African Studies

Copyright (c) 2025 Rune Larsen, Amanda Moller Rasmussen

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Form, Formats, and Forms of Informed Consent: Bringing European GDPR Forms to Fieldwork in Namibia and Djibouti. (2025). Nordic Journal of African Studies, 34(2), 88–103. https://doi.org/10.53228/vsa1zk65

Abstract

This article reflects on the unforeseen dynamics revealed as we presented written consent forms to be signed by our interlocutors during fieldwork in Djibouti and Namibia. Throughout the article we analyse how the consent form (in its legalistic form and format) seemed to instil distrust and suspicion, instead of its intended purpose of ensuring safety and inclusion. With these accounts we argue that instead of relying on written consent as documentation for ethical conduct, we as ethnographers working on the African continent should be encouraged to explore alternative avenues based on processual negotiations, together with our interlocutors, to ensure that our research is aligned with the moral and ethical values governing our field sites. 

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