Abstract
The effects of ethical clearance or institutional review board practices are discussed in
relation to the experiences of academic field researchers on the one hand and indigenous
research participants and/or co-generators of knowledge on the other. Ethical
procedures such as protection (do no harm), control (micromanaging methods) and
exploitation (taking ownership) are discussed in relation to researcher experiences in
Southern Africa. Researcher-researched relations, researcher and subject alienation,
ethics creep and the clash of ontologies is examined. Some tentative solutions are
mentioned.