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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Angela MazzettiORCiD
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In this workshop, I reflect on the ethical and emotional challenges I encountered throughout the different stages of my ethnographic research, conducted in post-conflict Northern Ireland. Between 2014 and 2019, I spent regular time in Northern Ireland during the planning, fieldwork and writing up stages of my research project which explored the long-term emotional legacy of the Northern Ireland conflict, euphemistically referred to as “The Troubles”. I employed a range of ethnographic methods including participant observation, life-history interviews, and visual methods. In this workshop, I reflect that conducting research in such settings can be challenging as even mundane discussions with participants can trespass into sensitive territory when society is in a state of socio-political flux. Living under the adverse conditions of protracted conflict and violence has an imprinting effect on society members, leaving deep psychic and social scars. These scars continue to have impact during the transitional phases from conflict to peace as legacy issues remain unresolved, continuing to be triggered by traces of conflict. Preparing for research in such fragile contexts is not the mainstay of research methods training. However, I consider that such discussions are necessary to ensure that researchers do not eschew research in such contexts in favour of other less sensitive research. It is therefore anticipated that this workshop will be of interest to those who are currently conducting research in such contexts and those who are planning to conduct research in transitional settings.
Author(s): Mazzetti AS
Publication type: Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)
Publication status: Published
Conference Name: Newcastle University Qualitative Special Interest Group Annual Symposium 2025
Year of Conference: 2025
Acceptance date: 15/11/2024
Publisher: Newcastle University
URL: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/ima/qualitativesig/events/nuqualitativespecialinterestgroupannualsymposium2025.html
