Uganda is a colorful and multicultural country, consisting of a variety of peoples and languages and customs. As foreign researchers, we strongly believe that one must be aware of their own positionality and status as an outsider when making observations on another culture. One must not make unfounded assumptions about the topic based on uninformed or mis- contextualized conceptions. This aspect is further emphasized when one takes into consideration the global North-South divide. Despite the team’s varied backgrounds, as students at a Canadian university, we are by default Global North researchers. While two out of four members are from the Global South, neither of them is from Uganda. As such, we are essentially a team of foreign researchers. Throughout our research and fieldwork, we have done our best to act accordingly to this foreign identity by keeping our positionality in mind and not superimposing our own ideals over local norms and lived experiences. However, we have found that this mindset sometimes did not translate into an angle of approach for past aid efforts.
