Doing Fieldwork in Areas of International Intervention: A Guide to Research in Violent and Closed Contexts (Spaces of Peace, Security and Development)

Using insights from those with first-hand experience of conducting research in areas of international intervention and conflict across the world, this book provides essential practical guidance, discussion of mistakes, key reflections and raises important questions for researchers and students embarking on fieldwork in violent and closed contexts. Chapters detail personal experiences from areas including the Congo, Sudan, Yemen, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Myanmar, inviting readers into their reflections on mistakes and hard-learned lessons. Divided into sections on issues of control and confusion, security and risk, distance and closeness and sex and sensitivity, the chapters look at how to negotiate complex grey areas and raise important questions that intervention researchers need to consider before, during and after their time on the ground. Front Cover Series Doing Fieldwork in Areas of International Intervention: A Fuide to Research in Violent and Closed Contexts Copyright information Table of contents List of figures List of abbreviations Acknowledgments 1 Doing Fieldwork in Areas of International Intervention into Violent and Closed Contexts Dilemmas of fieldwork- based intervention research in violent and closed contexts Control, confusion and failure in the research process Dilemmas of security and risk Dilemmas around distance and closeness Sensitivities of research with vulnerable or marginalized participants Notes References Part I Control and Confusion 2 Shifting Identities, Policy Networks, and the Practical and Ethical Challenges of Gaining Access to the Field in Intervention Gaining access to policy elites working on intervention The consequences of access to intervention elites for knowledge production Conclusions References 3 Interpretivist Methods and Military Intervention Research: Using Interview Research to De-centre the ‘Intervener’ Seeing like AFRICOM: interpretivist interview research on military intervention Limitations of, and supplements to, interview research in intervention sites Conclusion References 4 The Interview as a Cultural Performance and the Value of Surrendering Control Collecting oral information in unfamiliar contexts Spontaneity and informality Informal conversations over cups of tea Conclusions Note References 5 Unequal Research Relationships in Highly Insecure Places: Of Fear, Funds and Friendship ‘Will we ever be friends?’ ‘Respect me!’ .Hey ho, let’s go!' Conclusion Note References Part II Security and Risk 6 The Politics of Safe Research in Violent and Illiberal Contexts Regulating research Side effects of regulation Conclusion Notes 7 The Politics and Ethics of Fieldwork in Post-conflict Environments: The Dilemmas of a Vocational Approach Procedural versus practical ethics 1. Safety: ‘do no harm’ or ‘see no evil’? 2. Positionality: access to the field versus partiality of research 3. Permission: official approval versus official surveillance 4. Consent: overt versus covert approaches to research 5. Collaboration: co-production of knowledge versus sensible distancing Conclusions Notes References 8 Challenges of Research in an Active Conflict Environment Safety and research ethics Leveraging relationships in the research process: understanding the parameters Negotiating access Preserving research quality: flexibility, methodological rigour and transparency in research design Operating in environments of weak state capacity and ongoing conflict Conclusion Notes References 9 On Assessing Risk Assessments and Situating Security Advice: The Unsettling Quest for ‘Security Expertise’ MILOBS missing out on micro-dynamics Kidnapping analytics Attenuating the barbarian syndrome Imagining the ambush Rape preparedness Conclusion: locating security expertise Note References 10 Being Watched and Being Handled A game Scope conditions Actors Strategy sets and joint strategy payoffs Analyzing the game Selecting a pure strategy equilibrium: coordination on focal points A mixed-strategy equilibrium Conclusion Notes References Part III Distance and Closeness 11 Positioning in an Insecure Field: Reflections on Negotiating Identity Negotiating visible aspects of identity Positionality and negotiations of power Negotiating identity—finding your place in the field Conclusion Notes References 12 A Different Form of Intervention? Revisiting the Role of Researchers in Post-war Contexts The research context Researchers and the ‘international intervention’ Too close? Doing research in an over-exploited site Non-intervention contexts? The peripheries of research interventions Conclusion Notes References 13 The Road to Darfur: Ethical and Practical Challenges of Embedded Research in Areas of Open Conflict Embedded research in conflict and intervention research How does one get to Darfur?1 Ethical challenges and hidden effects of embedded research Choice of focus and approach to research Informed consent Confidentiality The hidden effects Reconciling two worlds and reflexivity Note References 14 Interpretation by Proxy? Interpretive Fieldwork with Local Associates in Areas of Restricted Research Access Accessing experiential/local knowledge Designing the workshop between research and art Implementing a research design with a feminist sensitivity Navigating outputs: what is research for? Conclusions Notes References Part IV Sex and Sensitivity 15 Sex Workers and Sugar Babies: Empathetic Engagement with Vulnerable Sources Know your ‘why’ Victims, agency and ‘critical empathy’ Gatekeepers, compensation and security Conclusions Notes References 16 Lifting the Burden? The Ethical Implications of Studying Exemplary, Not Pathological, Wartime Sexual Conduct The set-up: my research on the prevention of wartime sexual violence The research area My research design Gaining access to respondents The main ethical risks Expunging culpability for other harms Rewarding protection, not recognition of women’s sexual autonomy Mitigating the ethical risks Sustaining complexity Acknowledging uncertainty Conclusions Note References 17 Unexpected Grey Areas, Innuendo and Webs of Complicity: Experiences of Researching Sexual Exploitation in UN Peacekeeping Missions Assumptions clash with reality: fieldwork in Timor-Leste, 2004 Zero tolerance and definitional grey zones Innuendo, drunken rumours and urban legends Complicity and critique Conclusion Notes References 18 Sexual Exploitation, Rape and Abuse as a Narrative and a Strategy Dilemma 1: when research is situated in a socio-political context we cannot change Dilemma 2: when participating in research interviews is a strategy Dilemma 3: how to respond to pain and suffering Conclusions References 19 Ten Things to Consider Before, During and After Fieldwork in a Violent or Closed Context Before going to the field... 1. Do I really need to do fieldwork? 2. Which type of fieldwork is feasible, and where is the field? 3. Juggling the institutional and vocational approaches to fieldwork ethics and risk While in the field... 4. Questions of research access 6. Negotiating positionality and identity in the field 7. Questions of money and other power differentials 8. Managing emotions, confusions and failures while in the field When back from the field... 9. Writing up our research 10. The long-term consequences of fieldwork, and the question of giving something back Conclusions References Index Back Cover Using detailed insights from those with first-hand experience of conducting research in areas of international intervention and conflict, this handbook provides essential practical guidance for researchers and students embarking on fieldwork in violent, repressive and closed contexts. Contributors detail their own experiences from areas including the Congo, Sudan, Yemen, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Myanmar, inviting readers into their reflections on mistakes and hard-learned lessons. Divided into sections on issues of control and confusion, security and risk, distance and closeness and sex and sensitivity, they look at how to negotiate complex grey areas and raise important questions that intervention researchers need to consider before, during and after their time on the ground.Using detailed insights from those with first-hand experience of conducting research in areas of international intervention and conflict, this handbook provides essential practical guidance for researchers and students embarking on fieldwork in violent, repressive and closed contexts. Contributors detail their own experiences from areas including the Congo, Sudan, Yemen, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Myanmar, inviting readers into their reflections on mistakes and hard-learned lessons. Divided into sections on issues of control and confusion, security and risk, distance and closeness and sex and sensitivity, they look at how to negotiate complex grey areas and raise important questions that intervention researchers need to consider before, during and after their time on the ground