Experiences in Researching Conflict and Violence
Fieldwork Interrupted
Edited by Althea-Maria Rivas and Brendan Ciarán Browne
Published
Aug 7, 2019Page count
256 pagesISBN
978-1447337690Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Policy PressPublished
Jan 17, 2018Page count
256 pagesISBN
978-1447337683Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Policy PressPublished
Jan 17, 2018Page count
256 pagesISBN
978-1447337713Imprint
Policy PressPublished
Jan 17, 2018Page count
256 pagesISBN
978-1447337720Imprint
Policy Press
Experiences in Researching Conflict and Violence
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.
“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
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.
Foreword ~ Robin Luckham
Introduction ~ Althea-Maria Rivas and Brendan Browne
Section I: Violence;
On conducting unleashing interviews where control means life or death ~ Rose Løvgren;
Qualitative Research in the Shadow of Violent Conflict ~ Patrick James Christian;
Vignette 1 - The Play I could not Write ~ Laurel Borisenko
Section II: Uncertainty;
Ambivalent Reflections on Violence and Peace-Building Activist Research in the Post-Yugoslav Space ~ Paul Stubbs;
Intervention, Autonomy and Power in Polarised Societies ~ Corinna Jentzsch;
Vignette 2 - Packing for Kabul ~ Henri Myrttinen;
Section III: Identity and Power;
Formidable Fieldwork: Experiences of a Lesbian Researcher in Post-Conflict Northern Ireland ~ Sandra McEvoy;
Insider-Outsider Reflections on Terrorism Research in the Coastal region of Kenya ~ Fathima Azmiya Badurdeen;
Vignette 3 - Thinking about race and gender in conflict research ~ Althea-Maria Rivas;
Bodies of Cyberwar: Violence and Knowledge Beyond Corporeality ~ Fabio Cristiano;
Fields of Insecurity: Responding to flows of Information ~ Meike de Goede and Inge Ligtvoet;
Vignette 4 - Visual ethnographic encounters and Silence in post-conflict Banda Aceh ~ Marijaana Jauhola;
Section V: Methods;
Writing the wrongs: Keeping diaries and reflective practice ~ Brendan Ciarán Browne;
Abetting Atrocities? Reporting the Perspectives of Perpetrators in Research on Violence ~ Michael Broache;
Empathy as a critical methodological tool for peace research ~ Sinéad Walsh;
Vignette 5 - Land Grabbers in Kyrgyzstan ~ John Heathershaw.
