Ghosts of researchers past, present, and future in Mumbai

Abstract

We are all ghosts to other researchers, and sometimes we even haunt ourselves. Certain places attract high concentrations of research and Mumbai is one such place with many past, present, and future researchers. The traces of previous researchers are seen in the literature and their echoes were felt during this fieldwork whilst researching middle-class housing and environmental initiatives. Encounters with past researchers can change the behaviour of respondents, making the process easier, harder, or just different. Mumbai has so many researchers that others were physically present during data collection. The ghosts of these researchers emerge in data analysis and writings. The ghosts of future researchers are also present in how we collect data as responsible researchers and how we write about places. This chapter has two objectives: Firstly, to analyse the encounters with other researchers (past, present, and future) in Mumbai and consider its effect on both respondents and data; secondly, to take a reflexive view of what these encounters are doing to the urban study discourses produced. We are all in flux and cycle between the positions of the past, present, and future researchers and this chapter calls for acknowledgement of these complexities in our approaches to proposing, undertaking, and presenting our research.