Research Brokers We Use and Abuse while Researching Civil Wars and Their Aftermaths – Methodological Concerns

Utas, Mats

doi:10.1080/13698249.2019.1654325

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The question of local research staff safety is particularly concerning because, as noted by Baaz & Utas (2019), Global North research institutions are increasingly worried about the safety of their own staff and researchers, increasing our reliance on local research partners. This raises the cost of the fact that we lack a solid grasp on the frequency and range of risks faced by survey enumerators.…”

Section: Studying Survey Enumerators In the Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Work in anthropology and adjacent fields emphasizes how local research brokers are critical in facilitating research access in conflict settings, yet have inherently unequal relationships with the researchers that employ them. Local research brokers provide advice, data, and security (Boas, 2020; Cirhuza, 2020; Utas, 2019), while facing numerous challenges during data collection, ranging from their material comfort to their emotional and physical safety (see Baaz & Utas, 2019; Paluck, 2009). Concurrently, their unique positionality poses specific obstacles, such as working in contexts where one is viewed as a spy (Kadetwa, 2019) and the reality that local brokers face threats to their own safety, including harassment by local authorities, being followed and having data stolen (Mwambari, 2019).…”

Section: Studying Survey Enumerators In the Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enumerator Experiences in Violent Research Environments

Davis

Wilfahrt

2023

Comparative Political Studies

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Understanding political and social effects of violence in local populations through public opinion surveys has become increasingly common internationally. Yet while researchers are attuned to possible challenges induced during survey implementation, this work focuses almost uniformly on respondents. This paper considers survey enumerators as critical actors for data collection in violent research settings. We present survey results from 245 enumerators in Côte d’Ivoire to show that their personal feelings of insecurity and exposure to violence while conducting surveys may condition challenges faced and compromises made to gathering data. We shed light on how academic research in violent political settings poses unique security concerns for enumerators, with ramifications for data integrity.

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Section: Studying Survey Enumerators In the Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Studying Survey Enumerators In the Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enumerator Experiences in Violent Research Environments

Davis

Wilfahrt

2023

Comparative Political Studies

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“…Cronin-Furman and Lake 2018, Eriksson Baaz and Utas 2019b). Reflections on these usually asymmetric relationships have revolved around questions of researcher vs. broker access and security in conflict contexts (Eriksson Baaz 2019, Bøås 2020, Sangaré and Bleck 2020); inequalities and dynamics of power, positionality, privilege and profits (Cronin-Furman and Lake 2018, Bouka 2019, Parashar 2019, Clausen 2020; and brokers' usually substantive but unacknowledged impact on research data and results (Käihkö 2019, Utas 2019, Eriksson Baaz and Utas 2019b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Researching with ‘Local’ Associates: Power, Trust and Data in an Interpretive Project on Communities’ Conflict Knowledge in Myanmar

Guevara

Furnari²,

Julian

2020

Civil Wars

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This article discusses benefits and challenges of qualitative-interpretive research conducted in teams of outside (Northern) researchers and national (Southern) associates, in which the latter have considerable autonomy over research design and data generation. Reflecting on our collaboration with Burmese associates on arts-based workshops with violence-affected communities in Myanmar, we discuss how structures and dynamics of power and trustbuilding shaped the research process and data interpretation. Our reflective analysis suggests that interpretivist research 'by proxy' is possible and can be highly enriching but depends upon sufficient time (and funding) for meaningful, long-term engagement with 'local' research collaborators, which our project lacked.

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Gendered Challenges to Fieldwork in Conflict-Affected Areas

Jennings

2020

The Companion to Peace and Conflict Fieldwork

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It is 2005. I am on my first fieldwork in Liberia, leading a team of Norwegian and Liberian researchers completing both a survey and qualitative interviews of ex-combatants living in different areas in Monrovia. Given that this is my first real, independent research project, and only my second trip to the African continent -the other being a 2-day conference at a luxury hotel outside of Nairobi -I feel way out of my depth. Over the course of the fieldwork, previously undiscovered tensions erupt between myself and a Norwegian colleague. 1 He is senior to me, but it is my project. My idea. At a crucial juncture, towards the end of the trip, we argue over how to proceed. He wants us to return to our last field site for one final day of survey and interviews. I think we have enough material, and am concerned that the situation at that site is becoming volatile. I am convinced I am right, but I give in. He is senior and besides, I am tired of fighting. The next day, things go wrong. Too many people turn up, and they start arguing over the small rewards -biscuits and tins of sardines -that were given as compensation for informants' time. Some are just troublemakers asserting their authority, but we provided the arena for it. I am sick over the fracas that erupts around us, because of us. While there is no physical violence, the situation is tense. I fear for my safety, and for my team's, and for those informants who turned up in good faith. Tempers boil over, and not just among the ex-combatants. My colleague and I exchange heated words, and he walks off, leaving the site. It is hot, humid, loud. It is the end of fieldwork and I am exhausted. People are looking to me to fix this. I feel abandoned. Finally, I pull my other Norwegian colleague behind a car. She is an experienced nurse and good in a crisis. We confer. How will we placate a group of angry, disgruntled ex-combatants? My thoughts are going a mile a minute. I am convinced the project is ruined. I am convinced my career is over. I cry with frustration, anger, helplessness. My colleague covers me -literally. She shields me with her body. She knows, as I do, what it means to cry in this situation. A few minutes later, I pull myself together. We put out the fires. We placate. People disperse, annoyed but peaceful. We leave. I feel shame, embarrassment. A week later I am back in Oslo. A different colleague calls me in for a chat. He knows Liberia and knows the field and, as it happens, was in a different part of Liberia on a different project when all this went down. He is concerned and clearly uncomfortable. He asks what happened. He says he heard from our Liberian colleagues that there was an incident. They told him that I cried. He gently, but directly, tells me that I can never, ever again cry in public. At least not on fieldwork. Making a mistake is one thing, but crying over it is much worse. He tells me that I did a good job my first time out, but also that I might not regain the respect of my Liberian colleagues. He is not trying to be cruel. Such is the r...

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Research Brokers We Use and Abuse while Researching Civil Wars and Their Aftermaths – Methodological Concerns

Abstract: In this practitioners note I want, with a number of cases from my own fieldworks, highlight problems and possibilities of collecting first hand material about conflict with a specific focus on research brokers.

Cited by 8 publications

References 5 publications

Enumerator Experiences in Violent Research Environments

Enumerator Experiences in Violent Research Environments

Researching with ‘Local’ Associates: Power, Trust and Data in an Interpretive Project on Communities’ Conflict Knowledge in Myanmar

Gendered Challenges to Fieldwork in Conflict-Affected Areas

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