Conflict Field ResearchA community dedicated to exchanging ideas and experiences about field research and ethics in conflict, post-conflict, authoritarian, and other difficult fieldwork settings, including contexts of systemic and symbolic violence.
Researched/Researcher Relationships
- Md Rafiqul Islam, 2018, Field research in the conflict zone: An empirical study of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh, Flinders University. This paper argues that researches should practice methodological flexibility as well as ethical self-reflection. Researchers, particularly the “outsiders” should think about the underlying causes of the silence of the respondents, security situation, conflict parties and the potential of conflict for the research.
- Eva Gerharz, 2009, Ambivalent Positioning. Reflections on Ethnographic Research in Sri Lanka during the Ceasefire of 2002, Bielefeld University. This paper considers the positioning of the researcher, particularly in a post/pre-war context. The dynamics for a researcher between them and other researchers, locals, combatants, and the question of neutrality, are all considered.
- Lee Ann Fujii, 2008, Ethical challenges of micro-level fieldwork, George Washington University (University of Toronto). This paper discusses how micro-level research in Rwanda and the personal bonds formed through close contact blurs the lines of researchers and participants through direct engagement and how those researched should have a say in how they are represented through the researcher’s writing.