6 Insider-outsider reflections on terrorism research in the coastal region of Kenya
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Fathima Azmiya Badurdeen
Abstract
This chapter explores the dilemmas encountered due to researcher identity and positionality by drawing upon reflections on fieldwork conducted in Kenya on the radicalization and recruitment of youth for the al-Shabaab terrorist organization. Probing into an array of debates centred on the researcher’s religious identity and the research process, the chapter aims to shed light on the question of how the religious identity or position as a Muslim affected the research process and analysis as well as the researcher’s experiences and understanding of herself. In doing so, the chapter discusses the complexity of locating one’s positions either as an insider or an outsider, or even being in-between, when doing intra-group research and unpacks the linkage between religion, identity and positionality in research related to violent radicalization particularly in terrorism research.
Abstract
This chapter explores the dilemmas encountered due to researcher identity and positionality by drawing upon reflections on fieldwork conducted in Kenya on the radicalization and recruitment of youth for the al-Shabaab terrorist organization. Probing into an array of debates centred on the researcher’s religious identity and the research process, the chapter aims to shed light on the question of how the religious identity or position as a Muslim affected the research process and analysis as well as the researcher’s experiences and understanding of herself. In doing so, the chapter discusses the complexity of locating one’s positions either as an insider or an outsider, or even being in-between, when doing intra-group research and unpacks the linkage between religion, identity and positionality in research related to violent radicalization particularly in terrorism research.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- 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
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- 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
