Rethinking the researcher-researched relationship : research participants as prodsumers

This article critically examines the conventional researcher-researched relationship that empowers the researcher over the researched. The orthodoxy of objectivity - claimed to locate the researchers as neutral observer - is here argued to be a power relation that has an excluding effect where subject communities are concerned. By means of an archaeological case study that included mapping and interpretation of ancient rock engravings we offer a new way of negotiating interpretations. This new way involved four members from a Bushman community who helped us navigate spiritual, ontological and environmental dimensions in making sense of rock art.