A Suspicion of Testimony and the Tradition of Institutional Contexts: An Exploration of Translative Practice for Conducting Ethically Responsible Research

Abstract

If we consider the claim made by Dr. Theodore George at the 15th annual Canadian Hermeneutic Institute Conference, that there are unique contexts that require an untethering of ourselves from our tradition to better put ourselves into question, or what he considers to be an interpretative practice of translation that allows us to be “abroad in the world,” then I argue the tradition of institutional contexts is one such context requiring this necessary task of translation. I argue the testimony of the marginalized who practice within institutional contexts is tangled within institutional culture, practices, and structural power imbalances, requiring a practice of translation on the part of the hermeneutic researcher, in complement with that of conversation. This paper will explore the ways in which my doctoral research of healthcare aides’ experiences with death and dying in institutional contexts during the COVID-19 pandemic requires me to be both open and suspicious of my topic so that I may put the tradition of institutions into question to better consider the ethical obligations of my research. I will also make the claim that George’s idea of translation in hermeneutic research may lend itself to that of suspicion, but in ways that avoid some of the crevices of criticality that would serve to distance the reader from text or support explanation instead of understanding.