2 Qualitative research in the shadow of violent conflict
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Patrick James Christian
Abstract
The chapter examines the physical, psychological, and emotional challenges faced by researcher and research participant in qualitative field research into the underlying drivers of violent communal conflict, as well as inhibitors to successful resolution. The reflections in this chapter are drawn from the author’s qualitative field research experiences in Somalia, Yemen, Darfur Sudan, Niger, Colombia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The utility of this chapter is a deeper appreciation of the importance of qualitative field research in studies involving violent communal conflict, and an understanding of how transference and countertransference work to degrade data collection and analysis.
Abstract
The chapter examines the physical, psychological, and emotional challenges faced by researcher and research participant in qualitative field research into the underlying drivers of violent communal conflict, as well as inhibitors to successful resolution. The reflections in this chapter are drawn from the author’s qualitative field research experiences in Somalia, Yemen, Darfur Sudan, Niger, Colombia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The utility of this chapter is a deeper appreciation of the importance of qualitative field research in studies involving violent communal conflict, and an understanding of how transference and countertransference work to degrade data collection and analysis.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Acknowledgements v
- Notes on the editors and contributors vi
- Foreword x
- Introduction 1
-
Violence
- Conducting unleashing interviews where control means life or death 15
- Qualitative research in the shadow of violent conflict 31
- Vignette 1: The play I could not publish 47
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Uncertainty
- Ambivalent reflections on violence and peacebuilding: Activist research in Croatia and the wider post-Yugoslav space 55
- Intervention, autonomy and power in polarised societies 75
- Vignette 2: Packing for Kabul 95
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Identity and power
- Formidable fieldwork: Experiences of a lesbian researcher in post-conflict Northern Ireland 101
- Insider-outsider reflections on terrorism research in the coastal region of Kenya 119
- Vignette 3: Thinking about race and gender in conflict research 135
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Technology and social media
- Bodies of cyberwar: Violence and knowledge beyond corporeality 145
- Fields of insecurity: Responding to flows of information 161
- Vignette 4: Visual ethnographic encounters and silence in post-conflict Banda Aceh 179
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Methods
- Writing the wrongs: Keeping diaries and reflective practice 187
- Abetting atrocities? Reporting the perspectives of perpetrators in research on violence 205
- Empathy as a critical methodological tool in peace research 221
- Vignette 5: The limits of a part-time political ethnographer 239
- Index 245
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Acknowledgements v
- Notes on the editors and contributors vi
- Foreword x
- Introduction 1
-
Violence
- Conducting unleashing interviews where control means life or death 15
- Qualitative research in the shadow of violent conflict 31
- Vignette 1: The play I could not publish 47
-
Uncertainty
- Ambivalent reflections on violence and peacebuilding: Activist research in Croatia and the wider post-Yugoslav space 55
- Intervention, autonomy and power in polarised societies 75
- Vignette 2: Packing for Kabul 95
-
Identity and power
- Formidable fieldwork: Experiences of a lesbian researcher in post-conflict Northern Ireland 101
- Insider-outsider reflections on terrorism research in the coastal region of Kenya 119
- Vignette 3: Thinking about race and gender in conflict research 135
-
Technology and social media
- Bodies of cyberwar: Violence and knowledge beyond corporeality 145
- Fields of insecurity: Responding to flows of information 161
- Vignette 4: Visual ethnographic encounters and silence in post-conflict Banda Aceh 179
-
Methods
- Writing the wrongs: Keeping diaries and reflective practice 187
- Abetting atrocities? Reporting the perspectives of perpetrators in research on violence 205
- Empathy as a critical methodological tool in peace research 221
- Vignette 5: The limits of a part-time political ethnographer 239
- Index 245
