Culture Unbound (Special Issue)

Deadline: January 31, 2026

Editors: Johanna Dahlin and Hossam Sultan

In many countries, research ethics in qualitative and ethnographic research—including digital and online ethnographies—are increasingly subject to formalized governance. A growing tendency toward bureaucratization introduces standardized procedures that often reflect criteria and expectations from clinical or laboratory settings. While these frameworks aim to ensure accountability, they can clash with the relational, adaptive, and context sensitive nature of ethnographic practice. Requirements such as detailed pre-study protocols, rigid consent forms, and extensive documentation can in some cases,—such as recordings, the management of sensitive data, or consent forms requested by ethics approval authorities—pose risks to participants and lead to over-bureaucratization for researchers. In other contexts, such as participant observation in large groups, it may be practically impossible to obtain informed consent from everyone involved. These developments raise fundamental questions about how ethical review systems can accommodate the complexity and unpredictability inherent in ethnographic research, without reducing ethics to formal procedures and the ticking of boxes.

The governance of research ethics is not a neutral or purely technical matter—it shapes what kinds of knowledge can be produced, whose voices are heard, and which methods are considered legitimate. As ethical review systems become increasingly standardized and bureaucratized, there is a risk that flexible, context-sensitive approaches such as ethnography are marginalized or forced into compliance frameworks that do not fit their epistemological foundations. These developments have implications not only for researchers but also for participants, communities, and the broader public.

By critically examining these transformations, this special issue aims to advance scholarly debate on how ethical governance can protect participants and uphold integrity without undermining methodological diversity and innovation. We invite academic contributions that analyze tensions, unintended consequences, and creative responses to current systems, as well as conceptual and empirical work proposing alternative approaches that better align with the relational and processual nature of ethnographic practice. The purpose is to generate knowledge and critical perspectives that can inform future discussions and scholarly agendas for ethical governance—agendas that respect both accountability and the complexity of qualitative research.

Types of Contributions

This special issue invites contributions in the form of full papers (8000 words) or short commentaries (3000-4000 words) that reflect upon current transformations in the regulation of ethics in ethnographic research with focus tensions, emergent questions, work arounds and future agendas that they see needed to be put in place. We welcome:

• Empirical studies, including shorter vignettes, examining how ethical review systems shape research practices in different contexts.
  
• Theoretical and conceptual analyses of ethics as practice, situated ethics, and reflexivity in relation to governance.
  
• Methodological reflections on alternative consent models (oral, processual, participatory) and their recognition within formal systems.
  

Contributors can reflect upon questions such as, but not limited to, the following:

• How can ethics be understood as relational and processual rather than fixed and standardized?
  
• What risks arise when journals and institutions impose “one-size-fits-all” requirements on diverse research practices?
  
• How might digital, online and hybrid ethnographies challenge existing assumptions about consent, privacy, and data security?
  
• In what ways can critical and postcolonial perspectives inform the design of ethical review systems?
  
• What strategies can researchers and institutions adopt to balance accountability with methodological flexibility?
  

Contributions are welcome from scholars working in a variety of fields and disciplines that engage in ethnographic research. The special issue will be published in the international open-access journal Culture Unbound. All submissions will undergo double-blind peer review.

Timeline:

• 31 January 2026: Deadline for Abstract submission. Please send a 500-word extended abstract to johanna.dahlin@liu.se and hossam.sultan@liu.se. Please indicate whether the intended manuscript is going to be a full article (up to 8000 words) or a short commentary (up to 4000 words).
  
• 15 February 2026: Notification of acceptance of proposal for paper.
  
• 15 August 2026: Submission of full papers
  
• 30 October 2026: Reviews in
  
• 31 December 2026: Revised manuscripts due
  
• Spring 2027: Publication in Culture Unbound
  

Submit your proposals and any queries to johanna.dahlin@liu.se and hossam.sultan@liu.se