This article takes a reflexive look at the dilemmas and challenges of accessing a predominantly male circle of political and nongovernmental elites in the Central African Republic from the perspective of a young Black African male student researcher. It focuses on questions of positionality, arguing that certain African social norms regarding seniority and hierarchy can affect data generation, specifically access and interactions within interviews. The article argues that the author's identities as a student and researcher complicated access to male and senior elite interviewees during field research, thus illustrating anew how diasporic Africans might experience the field research exercise differently even if accessing elites is generally a difficult exercise. This article contributes to understanding power differentials among interviewers, including differences among students and researchers, and the influence of race during fieldwork by African scholars. This is within an emerging literature on fieldwork that focuses on graduate students in International Relations and Comparative Politics.

中文翻译：

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作为一名学生和研究人员在非洲谈判定位：了解资历和种族如何调解非洲社会背景下的精英访谈

本文从一名年轻的非洲黑人男学生研究员的角度，反思性地审视了接触中非共和国以男性为主的政治和非政府精英圈子所面临的困境和挑战。它侧重于位置问题，认为某些关于资历和等级制度的非洲社会规范会影响数据生成，特别是访谈中的访问和互动。文章认为，作者作为学生和研究人员的身份使得在实地研究期间接触男性和高级精英受访者变得复杂，从而重新说明散居非洲人可能如何以不同的方式体验实地研究活动，即使接触精英通常是一项困难的工作。本文有助于了解面试官之间的权力差异，包括学生和研究人员之间的差异，以及非洲学者在田野调查中种族的影响。这是关于田野调查的新兴文献中的内容，该文献侧重于国际关系和比较政治学的研究生。