Researching unsafe global education policy spaces in Mexico

In this chapter I reflect on the research methodology that I employed for my research of the 2009–2011 Mexican curricular reform to primary education in unsafe field sites. Taking an autoethnographic approach, I reflect on how my personal network of education actors formed the basis for my access to these field sites and how they constituted my safety. Moreover, I discuss how they altered the course of my research and, ultimately, my knowledge of the reform. In doing so, I make a case for emphasising the importance of interpersonal relationships in social science research as a criterion for accessing and assessing research sites, to counterbalance more detached criteria of what constitutes researcher safety, as employed in many university protocols that are founded upon research risk avoidance. These methodological issues are important, as the consequence of not researching in places deemed too risky according to university constructions is likely to underrepresent particular geographical and socio-economic areas, which ultimately may lead to important connections between global education policy and the transformation of education being missed.