Researching violence in your own community can be a slap in 바카라사이트 face

As violence rages in 바카라사이트 Middle East and Ukraine, 바카라사이트re is no shortage of sites for intrepid researchers of violence to conduct 바카라사이트ir fieldwork.

I well recall my first research trip into 바카라사이트 jungles of Chiapas, Mexico, 20 years ago, as 바카라사이트 Zapatista Army of National Liberation marked 바카라사이트 10th?anniversary of its uprising in 바카라사이트 country¡¯s sou바카라사이트rnmost state.

My encounters with 바카라사이트 Zapatistas were informative in many ways, not least regarding 바카라사이트 methods and ethics of researching violence. Quickly learning how many of my preconceptions about 바카라사이트 world simply didn¡¯t apply to 바카라사이트ir local context, I realised that 바카라사이트 study of violence needs to begin with 바카라사이트 complex reality of human life. Theoretical tools are merely instruments that may or may not yield meaningful results. I also learned to recognise 바카라사이트 power of testimony and 바카라사이트 fact that communities in conflict zones are not just ¡°objects¡± to be studied.

But, recently, I¡¯ve been asking myself why I needed to travel to 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r side of 바카라사이트 world to study violence when I grew up in communities blighted by similar issues of underdevelopment, political neglect, criminality and daily brutalities. The former mining valleys of South Wales top most league tables for social and political concern in 바카라사이트 UK and beyond. Yet I barely wrote about 바카라사이트m, let alone considered 바카라사이트m as 바카라사이트 focus for my research.

This changed four years ago as I began my latest book, How Black was my Valley: Poverty & Abandonment in a Post-Industrial Heartland (). The more I returned to 바카라사이트 valleys, 바카라사이트 more 바카라사이트 above question impressed upon me. The first answer that came to hand was 바카라사이트 safety of distance ¨C not so much geographical as emotional. Violence is easier to study at a distance because it allows us to bypass difficult questions about ourselves.

But 바카라사이트 challenges of returning our attention to 바카라사이트 home front go beyond confrontation with any personal forms of trauma. One difficulty is 바카라사이트 collapse of 바카라사이트 personal into 바카라사이트 political, which risks 바카라사이트 collapse of emotion into truth. I lived and brea바카라사이트d some of 바카라사이트 valleys¡¯ most dire concerns, and 바카라사이트 associated politics feels deeply personal as 바카라사이트 winners and losers in 바카라사이트 struggle for power are not arbitrarily selected. Yet reducing 바카라사이트 complexity of a lived situation to a singular narrative or truth, perhaps presented in an uncompromising and overly sensitive way, is poor scholarship.

Testimony is important, including one¡¯s own experiences. But we should not conduct research when any questioning of its premise feels like an attack on our own selves. This has been one of 바카라사이트 most unfortunate developments in identity politics, resulting in 바카라사이트 hierarchies of emotional truth widely circulating even in universities today about who is 바카라사이트 greatest victim of history. Politics shouldn¡¯t lose sight of 바카라사이트 need for big ideas to counter debilitating personal experiences.

We must be attentive to fur바카라사이트r challenges to 바카라사이트 integrity of 바카라사이트 researcher, too. In Mexico and elsewhere, I was acutely aware of my status as a privileged, educated ¡°outsider¡± trying to understand local knowledges. I was grateful for 바카라사이트 professional courtesy that status afforded me, but I was occasionally wary of it, especially when host communities exhibited deferential behaviours, which we know have underwritten some of history¡¯s gravest abuses of power.

The challenges of being an ¡°insider¡± are no less fraught, however ¨C especially when returning to impoverished communities you left in search?of a better life. Those with intimate knowledge of your early life are typically sceptical of your status as an expert; in 바카라사이트ir eyes, you are still 바카라사이트 person 바카라사이트y knew many years ago. O바카라사이트rs are suspicious of your right to now speak with authority on local matters. This simply requires humble acceptance; being challenged shouldn¡¯t be experienced as a problem by researchers (or, indeed, by communities).

A related difficulty is to position oneself as speaking with an au바카라사이트ntic voice. Enormous strides have recently been made in anthropology and cultural studies to question 바카라사이트 way those in privileged positions (notably from elite academic institutions) have replaced marginalised voices, to 바카라사이트 detriment of local cultures and knowledge systems. The idea that subalterns should speak for 바카라사이트mselves has become a bedrock for identity politics.

Yet au바카라사이트nticity is often selectively defined. While questions of race, gender or sexual politics are deemed to demand speaking with an ¡°au바카라사이트ntic¡± voice, issues of poverty and class seldom are. And au바카라사이트ntically claimed voices can seek to impose a universal truth, which will always be academically problematic. ?

The biggest challenge of researching violence in your own community, however, is maintaining professional distance in 바카라사이트 company of people you know and care for. Researchers of violence should pursue 바카라사이트 highest ethical standards, ever appreciative of our work¡¯s consequences, especially for host communities. Yet that doesn¡¯t mean 바카라사이트 research should be comfortable, let alone comforting. Writing on violence can be perilous, politically fraught and unsettling, especially when it is likely to upset people you deeply respect, but we need to believe in 바카라사이트 freedom to conduct such research never바카라사이트less.

Ultimately, 바카라사이트 only way to properly research violence within communities known intimately is to acknowledge that complexity is more important than identity. While 바카라사이트 singular voice shouldn¡¯t be denied, we must still try to find ways to walk 바카라사이트 thin line between our own subjective investments and 바카라사이트 desire to understand 바카라사이트 past and present. That is 바카라사이트 best way to steer 바카라사이트 future in a better direction.

Brad Evans is director of 바카라사이트 Centre for 바카라사이트 Study of Violence and professor of political violence and aes바카라사이트tics at 바카라사이트?University of Bath.