For ‘emotional fieldwork’ in critical geopolitical research on violence and terrorism
Highlights
► Critical Geopolitics needs to take into account the emotional dynamics arising from fieldwork. ► ‘Emotional Fieldwork’ provides a pathway to appreciate the unpredictable nature of the research process.► ‘Emotional fieldwork’ in violent settings repositions issues of danger, ethics and responsibility.
Introduction
Section snippets
Field diary: emotions in violence and terrorism research
In recent years, geographers have engaged in strong pleas for primary ‘field’ research to be embraced as one of the core pathways in the ‘doing’ of critical geopolitics (Dowler & Sharp, 2001; Hyndman, 2003, 2004; Megoran, 2006; Sparke, 2005). The genesis for such appeals can be attributed to the subdiscipline's apparent over-reliance on secondary accounts for empirical data (re)source (see e.g. Ó Tuathail, 1996 for his work on Bosnia and Berg, 2000 for work on Estonia/Russia). This in turn
The doing of research: emotions in violence and terrorism research
In recent years, geographers have been increasingly cognizant of the emotional dynamics that are transpired through the doing of fieldwork (Davidson, Bondi, & Smith, 2005; Laurier & Parr, 1999; Parr, 2006; Widdowfield, 2000). Such a trend cannot be divorced from the view that emotionality is no longer deemed as obstructing the advancement of scientific inquiry, an irrelevant state of being that is apart from and counter to knowledge production (see Bondi, 2005; Bondi et al., 2005). Rather,
Violence and terrorism in the Philippines
Before going into a concerted discussion about how emotions are closely intertwined with the conduct of violence research, this section will provide a brief background to the empirical study in which this paper is premised upon. My interest in terror and violence in the Philippines stems from the widespread exhortations that terrorism in the country's southern island of Mindanao (see Fig. 1) constitutes one of the most potent risks to the security of Southeast Asia. Acting US ambassador to the
Situating risk and safety in Mindanao: terrorism or state neglect?
Any research related to terrorism and violence has to put issues of risk and safety at the heart of discussions, claims political scientist Raymond Lee (1995). Rather than routinely select themselves out of potentially hazardous studies, Lee goes on to argue that researchers should evaluate explicitly the possibility of danger, its potential sources and how it might be managed or exacerbated by particular actions. Careful, objective management seems to be the key in Lee's conceptions; emotions
Field diary on risk and safety in Mindano
The above narration is a clear illumination (upon reflection) of the critical disjuncture between my preconceived trepidations of risks and safety and my embodied experiences of such emotions. Throughout the course of my fieldwork, the death threats of bombs and kidnaps remained elusive, forming part of extraordinary circumstances rather than the mundane everyday encounters. Conversely, the fear of getting into a road-related accident was very ‘real’ and even debilitating at times. Indeed,
Lived encounters with violence: from detached to embodied methodologies
Insofar as the perceptual guides material actions, my prior imag(in)ings of risks and safety in Mindanao shaped my intended choice of methodologies and reactionary strategies. Although part of my aim is to intervene in the sweeping generalizations proffered by the discourse of terrorism in the Philippines through grounded, in-depth interrogations of local communities' aspirations for peace, I was reticent about immersing in the field for a substantial period of time (more than 6 months) for the
Field diary on violence and bodies: witnessing terror
Excerpt from Field Diary
Date: 23 February 2009
I had a friend, Felix, in the community who was introduced to me by a respondent I interviewed in the earlier part of the year. Felix is a fun and life-affirming man, who loved life, parties and his fellow human beings. The reason why I grew so close to him was that he always seems to have the ability to ease the tragedies of violence for me, through his laughter and his positive attitude towards life. I could talk to him about the war in Mindanao
Field diary on violence and bodies: a failed friendship
The first vignette captures the unsettling story shrouding over the hanging body of a familial—not only butchered but exposed—which presents a powerful statement on death, (in)dignity and the nature of human existence. It can be seen that my interactions with Issa are intimately and geographically entangled, an intimacy and emotionality that is perhaps not adequately captured by the ethical framing of “normative interventions” as “caring from a distance” (Barnett, 2005; Silk, 2004). Images and
Conclusion
Excerpt from Field Diary
Date: 20 March 2009
Today I passed by a rubbish dump and managed to talk to a group of children there. They were digging for (in their words) “treasures”—essentially papers, cans and refuse—in hope of selling them or exchanging them for food. I asked one girl if she was from the area. She nodded in a way that caught my immediate attention: It struck me from her expression that she might thought back to the time of the devastating fighting that had reduced her province
Field diary: emotions in the research process
This final vignette reproduced from my field diary arguably epitomizes the essence of this paper—my unintended interactions with the group of children, the unexpected witnessing of ‘terror’ and violence through the ‘face of the other’ (Levinas, 1961) and the collapse of emotional distance between me and the little girl are clear manifestations of the messiness of research. Indeed, as argued throughout this paper, the doing of violence and terrorism research forces the researcher to confront the
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