I really love your take on the role of empathy between research collaborators. I think a lot of what you have said can also apply to the relationship between researcher and human research subjects (in psychology, anthropology, or other cultural studies). There is a push in some fields to view research subjects as collaborators, and especially to ensure that when one goes into a community to conduct research, they give back as well as take, and ensure that the fruits of that research come back to the community that enabled it in the first place.