A new contribution by our member Melina Götze, titled “Co-Work: Reflections on the Search for Research Practices with Returned Ghanaians” has been published on the Boasblogs. The article offers a timely reflection on how ethnographic knowledge is produced in contexts shaped by forced return, border violence, and unequal mobility.

Drawing on long-term research with Ghanaians who were forcibly returned from Germany, Götze examines how moments of tension, refusal, and asymmetry shaped her fieldwork. She proposes co-work as an alternative to classical collaborative ethnography—an approach defined not by shared goals or equal authority, but by situational, multimodal, and often uneven forms of working together.

Through three case studies, the article traces how knowledge emerged through audiovisual exchanges with Prempeh, co-writing practices with Simon, and documents and objects curated by Rose that became material anchors for narrating her cross-border biography. Across these encounters, Götze shows how artifacts, media, and sensory engagements can become central methodological tools.

This article is an important contribution to ongoing debates on collaboration, ethics, and knowledge production in migration research.

We invite you to read it in full on here.