Emotional and Ethical Challenges for Field Research in Africa (eBook)

SUSAN THOMSON is Assistant Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Colgate University, USA. Her research and teaching interests are in state-society relations in contemporary Africa and qualitative research methods, with particular focus on research ethics and doing research in difficult environments. AN ANSOMS is Assistant Professor in Development Studies at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. She conducts research on poverty and inequality in the Great Lakes Region and pays particular attention to the challenges of rural development in land-scarce post-conflict environments. JUDE MURISON is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Policy and Management, Belgium. Her research focuses on human rights, transitional justice, forced migration, health and agricultural production through the interplay of national policies and laws, and how they are implemented on the ground.

Introduction: Why Stories Behind the Findings?; S.Thomson , A.Ansoms  & J.Murison From Humanitarian to Anthropologist: Writing at the Margins of Ethnographic Research in the Democratic Republic of Congo; L.Jourdan The Contested Fruits of Research in War-Torn Countries: My Insider Experience in Northern Uganda; L.Ogora Dislodging Power Structures in Rural Rwanda: From 'Disaster Tourist' to 'Transfer Gate'; A.Ansoms Challenges of Interviewing Political Elites: A View from the Top in Post-War Burundi; J.Vorrath The RPF Control Everything! Fear and Rumour under Rwanda's Genocide Ideology Legislation; L.Begley From Scientific Research to Political Action: Working with Rural Communities in Southern Kivu; J.Van Damme Research as 'Social Work'? Managing Expectations, Compensation and Relationships in Research with Unassisted, Urban Refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo; C.Clark-Kazak Nacibazo, 'No Problem': Moving Behind the Official Discourse of Post-Genocide Justice in Rwanda; Y.Bouka Dealing with Deceit: Fieldwork Encounters and Lies in Burundi; L.H.Berckmoes Academic Integrity and Ethical Responsibilities in Post-genocide Rwanda: Working with Research Ethics Boards to Prepare for Fieldwork with 'Human Subjects'; S.Thomson