ABSTRACT

Why is there little discussion around positionalities and desires in enterprise research within economic geography and beyond? This paper advocates an ethico-political methodology by drawing on research praxes that articulate a need for situated knowledges. This article develops the case for enterprise research in which our positioned desires matter. Positioned desires acknowledge the role of desires as a critical aspect to appreciate the ethico-political aspects of knowledge production in enterprise research. These desires are positioned in a concrete historical and material-institutional context and should be open to interrogation in the research process. In order to arrive at this idea, I first review dominant forms of critical realism in economic geography, according to which the researcher analyzes an external ontological reality. I show how this misses to specify the ethico-political stakes of knowledge production. I exemplify this claim through an analysis of the ‘missing researchers’ in the Global Production Network literature and the performative exclusions that this positioned desire-free lacuna entails. Subsequently, I illustrate the implications of a ‘postcolonial ethico-onto-epistemology’, by examining the importance of positioned desires for doing enterprise research in Armenia and Georgia, showing the need for creativity in navigating ethically through a difficult terrain of manifold power differentials.

摘要

为什么在经济地理学及其他领域很少有关于企业研究的立场和愿望的讨论？本文通过借鉴阐明情境知识需求的研究实践，倡导一种伦理政治方法论。本文阐述了企业研究的案例，其中我们的定位愿望很重要。定位欲望承认欲望作为理解企业研究中知识生产的伦理政治方面的一个关键方面的作用。这些愿望被置于具体的历史和物质制度背景中，并且应该在研究过程中接受质疑。为了得出这个想法，我首先回顾了经济地理学中批判现实主义的主要形式，研究人员根据这种形式分析了外部本体论现实。我将展示这如何忽略了知识生产的伦理政治风险。我通过对全球生产网络文献中“缺失的研究人员”的分析以及这种无欲望定位所带来的表演性排除来举例说明这一主张。随后，我通过考察在亚美尼亚和格鲁吉亚进行企业研究的定位愿望的重要性，阐述了“后殖民伦理认识论”的含义，表明在道德上穿越多重权力差异的困难领域时需要创造力。我通过对全球生产网络文献中“缺失的研究人员”的分析以及这种无欲望定位所带来的表演性排除来举例说明这一主张。随后，我通过考察在亚美尼亚和格鲁吉亚进行企业研究的定位愿望的重要性，阐述了“后殖民伦理认识论”的含义，表明在道德上穿越多重权力差异的困难领域时需要创造力。我通过对全球生产网络文献中“缺失的研究人员”的分析以及这种无欲望定位所带来的表演性排除来举例说明这一主张。随后，我通过考察在亚美尼亚和格鲁吉亚进行企业研究的定位愿望的重要性，阐述了“后殖民伦理认识论”的含义，表明在道德上穿越多重权力差异的困难领域时需要创造力。