Discussing doing fieldwork in areas of international intervention: A guide to research in violent and closed contexts

Chair: John Heathershaw (University of Exeter)

Participants: Katarzyna Kaczmarska (University of Edinburgh) , Catherine Owen (University of Exeter) , Daniela Lai (London South Bank) , Katarina Kusic (Aberystwyth University) , Morten Bøås (NUPI) , Casey McNeill (Fordham University)

Using detailed insights from those with first-hand experience of conducting research in areas of international intervention and conflict, this roundtable is based on a handbook that provides essential practical guidance for researchers and students embarking on fieldwork in violent, repressive and closed contexts (Bristol: Bristol University Press, forthcoming 2020), edited by Morten Bøås and Berit Bliesemann de Guevara). 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, this roundtable will 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. The roundtable involves editors and authors as well as specialists external to the book project. It will take the form of a frank and wide-ranging conversation about the practicalities, politics and ethics of fieldwork.

Please note that registration will close two hours before the event is due to begin.