'White Tigers': Researcher Roles in Relation to Linking Social Capital within Tamil Voluntary Associations in Norway

Many refugee communities are host to a wealth of research projects. Yet, relationships between researchers and refugee research participants have been little studied. The current study provides an empirical, qualitative investigation of the relationships that may evolve between researchers and members of Tamil voluntary associations in Norway. It explores whether these relationships provided research participants with access to resources outside their group. The study draws on participant observation among researchers and Tamil research participants between 2006 and 2011, with particular focus on events related to the final stage of the civil war in Sri Lanka in 2009. It was found that social connectedness with researchers provided research participants with linking social capital. Researchers played multiple and overlapping roles within this part of the Tamil community, enabling access to resources outside the community. The study contributes to the theoretical development of the concept of linking social capital by construing it as the outcome of specific conscious or unconscious strategic investments embedded in features of social organization and cultural orientations of the involved actors, and the social and political context these investments occur in. Implications of the study for research designs are discussed.