Experiences in Researching Conflict and Violence: Fieldwork Interrupted

by John Heathershaw (Contribution by), Michael P. Broache (Contribution by), Fabio Cristiano (Contribution by), Sandra McEvoy (Contribution by), Henri Myrttinen (Contribution by)

Overview

This international, edited collection brings together personal accounts from researchers working in and on conflict and explores the roles of emotion, violence, uncertainty, identity and positionality within the process of doing research, as well as the complexity of methodological choices. It highlights the researchers’ own subjectivity and presents a nuanced view of conflict research that goes beyond the ‘messiness’ inherent in the process of research in and on violence. It addresses the uncomfortable spaces of conflict research, the potential for violence of research itself and the need for deeper reflection on these issues. This powerful book opens up spaces for new conversations about the realities of conflict research. These critical self-reflections and honest accounts provide important insights for any scholar or practitioner working in similar environments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781447337683
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	03/01/2018
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

Althea-Maria Rivas is a Lecturer in the Department of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. She is also a Research Associate at the Harriet Tubman Institute at York University. Her research interests are race and global politics, gender (in)security and development, humanitarian intervention and post-conflict reconstruction, migration, feminist and postcolonial theory and pedagogy. Brendan Ciarán Browne is an Assistant Professor in Conflict Resolution and Research Fellow at the Trinity College Dublin Centre for Post-Conflict Justice. His research interests centre on conflict transformation in Northern Ireland and Palestine where he has conducted extensive fieldwork with political representatives, youth and community workers, NGOs and former combatants.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements v

Notes on the editors and contributors vi

Foreword Robin Luckham x

Introduction Althea-Maria Rivas Brendan Ciarán Browne 1

Section I Violence 13

1 Conducting unleashing interviews where control means life or death Rose Løvgren 15

2 Qualitative research in the shadow of violent conflict Patrick James Christian 31

Vignette 1 'The play I could not publish' Laurel Borisenko 47

Section II Uncertainty 53

3 Ambivalent reflections on violence and peacebuilding: Activist research in Croatia and the wider post-Yugoslav space Paul Stubbs 55

4 Intervention, autonomy and power in polarised societies Corinna Jentzsch 75

Vignette 2 'Packing for Kabul' Henri Myrttinen 95

Section III Identity and power 99

5 Formidable fieldwork: Experiences of a lesbian researcher in post-conflict Northern Ireland Sandra M. McEvoy 101

6 Insider-outsider reflections on terrorism research in the coastal region of Kenya Fathima Azmiya Badurdeen 119

Vignette 3 'Thinking about race and gender in conflict research' Althea-Maria Rivas 135

Section IV Technology and social media 143

7 Bodies of cyberwar: Violence and knowledge beyond corporeality Fabio Cristiano 145

8 Fields of insecurity: Responding to flows of information Meike de Goede Inge Ligtvoet 161

Vignette 4 'Visual ethnographic encounters and silence in post-conflict Banda Aceh' Marjaana Jauhola 179

Section V Methods 185

9 Writing the wrongs: Keeping diaries and reflective practice Brendan Ciarán Browne 187

10 Abetting atrocities? Reporting the perspectives of perpetrators in research on violence Michael Broache 205

11 Empathy as a critical methodological tool for peace research Sinéad Walsh 221

Vignette 5 'The limits of a part-time political ethnographer' John Heathershaw 239

Index 245

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Experiences in Researching Conflict and Violence is both unsettling and empowering at the same time. A must read for all students and scholars interested in the world ‘out there'.'' Nicolas Lemay-Hébert, University of Birmingham

Editorial Reviews

Experiences in Researching Conflict and Violence is both unsettling and empowering at the same time. A must read for all students and scholars interested in the world ‘out there'.''

University of Birmingham Nicolas Lemay-Hébert

“Experiences in Researching Conflict and Violence is both unsettling and empowering at the same time. A must read for all students and scholars interested in the world ‘out there'.''

University of Birmingham Nicolas Lemay-Hébert