"Research as Relation: Ubuntu Ethics and the Rehumanization of Knowledge"

Authors

Trevor Makhetha

Files

Description

Dr. Trevor Makhetha, PSU Black Studies Center Visiting Scholar, explores Ubuntu as a methodological orientation that redefines what it means to do research in socially fractured worlds.

Against traditions that treat knowledge as property and participants as data, Makhetha proposes research as relation: a practice of co-creation grounded in the ethical recognition of our shared humanity. Drawing on critical ethnographic work with marginalized youth in South Africa, he examines how Ubuntu offers not simply an ethical add-on, but a re-centering of ontology and epistemology around interconnectedness, care, and accountability. Through stories from fieldwork, he demonstrates how research encounters can become spaces of mutual transformation, where the line between researcher and participant softens in favor of collective meaning-making.

This approach insists that knowledge must emerge from relationships of trust, listening, and humility. Ultimately, the talk argues that rehumanizing knowledge production requires us to rethink the very purpose of research: not as the pursuit of mastery or discovery, but as a living, relational act of justice and hope.

Dr. Makhetha presented on November 24, 2025, at Portland State University's Pan African Commons.

Date

11-24-2025

Rights

This video is made available for educational and non-commercial use only. It may not be reproduced in any form without the express permission of Portland State University. For more information, please contact Portland State University Library Special Collections at: specialcollections@pdx.edu.

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44303

Recommended Citation

Makhetha, Trevor, ""Research as Relation: Ubuntu Ethics and the Rehumanization of Knowledge"" (2025). The Black Bag Speakers Series. 26.
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44303