Insider and Outsider Fieldwork Challenges in Medellín, Colombia

Abstract

High levels of violence and conflict in Latin America have attracted the interests of local and international researchers to further understand how to reduce this violence and prevent current and future outbreaks. Conducting research in any environment is challenging. However, the obstacles facing not only researcher safety but also data collection methods are particularly complex in settings with high levels of violence and conflict. This article contributes to the methodological literature, as it provides reflections from two researchers, an insider from the Global South and an outsider from the Global North, each collecting data in Medellín, Colombia. It also argues the importance of collaboration between Global North and Global South researchers investigating violence and insecurity.

Researching governance in difficult times and places: Reflections from Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, and Pakistan

“…A common realization across all teams was the importance of working not just with local “enumerators” but through long‐term relationships with researchers located in, or with close links to, the fragile sub‐national contexts in which the research was being conducted—much like that argued by Dávila and Doyle (2020), Hossein (2016), Mazurana et al (2013), Taptué and Hoogeveen (2020), Taylor et al (2020), and Wood (2013). This strategy was effective in terms of gaining access to otherwise difficult sites, being better able to understand and manage the changing risks that came with doing the research, and in building more trusting and open relationships with respondents.…”

“…On some findings there is agreement. Much of the literature, such as Dávila and Doyle (2020) Mazurana et al (2013), and Taylor et al (2020), agrees that collaborations with local partners over the long term must be prioritized, and that this will need to include building the capacity of emerging researchers and maintaining close accompaniment to create relationships of equality and a community of practice. On other findings, our experiences run contrary to the received wisdom that research in difficult settings can be done remotely, an approach strengthened by the constraints imposed by the COVID‐19 pandemic (Howlett, 2021; Lobe et al, 2020).…”

“…Accordingly, there is a rich literature that draws on researchers' experiences in different parts of the world to suggest ways for conducting research in fragile, violent, and conflict‐affected settings (see, for example, recent contributions by Arjona et al, 2019, Bellin et al, 2019, Taylor et al, 2020, Dávila & Doyle, 2020). We contribute to this literature by looking at a particularly sticky aspect of fragility that researchers now encounter across the world—that of “autocratization” and the closing of civic spaces by governments in different parts of the world, including those that are formally democratic (Lührmann et al, 2020).…”

El papel de la investigación en la educación jurídica: Un problema de poder y colonialidad

“…También la criminología del sur global ha puesto en debate la falta de adecuación de muchos de los planteamientos teóricos formulados por la criminología del norte global para analizar e interpretar las problemáticas propias del sur, que tienen rasgos y características singulares (Carrington y otros, 2016;Carrington y otros, 2018;Silva García y otros, 2020). Hay varios artículos de autores colombianos que promueven esas rupturas epistemológicas, publicados en revistas Scopus en los últimos tres años, en castellano e inglés, entre varios que podrían ser citados como ejemplo que demuestran el impacto y la visibilidad de la criminología colombiana (Velandia-Montes y Gómez Velandia-Montes, 2018;Silva García y Pérez Salazar, 2019;González Monguí, 2019;Velandia-Montes y Gómez Jaramillo, 2019;Dávila y Doyle, 2020;Flórez, 2020).…”

Avatares de la criminalidad de cuello blanco transnacional

“…Por su objeto de estudio, este es un trabajo de criminología o sociología jurídica penal (Silva-García et al, 2018), enmarcado en la perspectiva teórica e investigativa de la criminología del Sur global (Carrington et al, 2018;Navas, 2020;Silva-García, 2022), en tanto busca respuestas a una problemática latinoamericana que sean acordes a las condiciones singulares de la región, que claramente no van a ser respondidas por la criminología tradicional del Norte global, cuestionada además por el pensamiento del Sur (Carrington et al, 2016 ;Silva-García et al, 2022). Responde a una dinámica nacional y latinoamericana en este campo disciplinar que ha dejado una prolífica producción de orientación crítica (Bernal, 2019;Carvajal, 2016;Dávila & Doyle, 2020;Silva-García et al, 2019;. En ese sentido, es también una contribución a la criminología latinoamericana para actuar frente a las adversidades específicas de la región, con base en interpretaciones o soluciones basadas en la investigación rigurosa de sus problemas específicos .…”