Doing Research as a Native: A Guide for Fieldwork in Illiberal and Repressive States

by Kira D. Jumet (Editor), Merouan Mekouar (Editor)

Overview

Numerous publications have examined the challenges faced by non-native (often Western) academics conducting research in repressive countries. However, discussions of the unique security risks experienced by native scholars seem to be largely absent. While native academics face many of the challenges highlighted in existing publications, such as data security, access to informants, and personal safety, they also face additional risks and distinct obstacles, including weight of local identity markers, governmental pressure on family, legal threats from local authorities, and exploitation by non-native colleagues.

Doing Research as a Native addresses this critical gap in the literature through fieldwork accounts from 19 social science and humanities researchers who conducted fieldwork in their 15 repressive and/or illiberal home countries and faced challenges directly related to their position as native scholars. The book identifies the risks and obstacles faced by these scholars and also provides practical guidance for the preparation and carrying out of fieldwork, including methodological suggestions and coping strategies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780197699812
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/17/2025
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Kira D. Jumet is Associate Professor of Government and Director of the Middle East/Islamicate Worlds Studies Program at Hamilton College. Her research focuses on social movements, authoritarianism, and national identity in the Middle East and North Africa. With an academic backround in Political Science and Middle East Studies, Jumet takes an interdisciplinary approach to her scholarship. She is the author of Contesting the Repressive State: Why Ordinary Egyptians Protested During the Arab Spring (2018) and has also published on violent Islamism and repression in Egypt. Jumet has conducted fieldwork in Morocco for her current work on nation-building in the country.

Merouan Mekouar is Associate Professor of Social Science at York University and specializes in norm diffusion, social movements, and authoritarian practices in North Africa and the Middle East. Originally trained in political science, Mekouar draws upon a wide range of disciplines—including comparative politics, international relations, political sociology, development studies, and behavioral economics—to examine diverse political phenomena ranging from the emergence and adoption of new authoritarian practices and means of contention to regime learning and stress contamination in security organizations. In recent years, he has expanded his scholarship to include critical fieldwork methodologies in illiberal and authoritarian countries.

Table of Contents

IntroductionPart 1: Gender and Societal ExpectationsChapter 1: "But Where Is Your Grandmother Really From?"Negotiating Ethnicity, Gender, and Belonging After War (Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia), Izabela StefljaChapter 2: Discomfort in the Field: Navigating Family Politics, the Streets, and the State in Algeria (Algeria), Hiba ZerrouguiChapter 3: Doing Research on the "Margins": Fieldwork as a Pashtun in Pakistan (Pakistan), Syed Shah and Farooq YousafChapter 4: Suspicion, Surveillance, and Survival in Kashmir (Indian-controlled Kashmir), Mona BhanChapter 5: Gender and Societal Expectations: A Provisional Guide, Kira Jumet and Merouan MekouarPart 2: Race, Ethnicity, and BelongingChapter 6: Ethnicity as a Liability: Fieldwork as a Mixed Ethnic Researcher in Ethiopia (Ethiopia), Tewodros AsfawChapter 7: "Racial Democracy" as a Fallacy: Art, Research, and Identity in Brazil (Brazil), Guilherme MarcondesChapter 8: "Come Back as a Piece, not Pieces": Risks, Experiences, and Practices of Researching "Sensitive" Topics in One's Home Country - A Note from Northern Nigeria (Nigeria), Musa IbrahimChapter 9: Guardians of the Archives: The Bishop and the Bureaucrat in Socialist Cuba (Cuba), Boris Xavier Martin QuijanoChapter 10: Race, Ethnicity, and Belonging: A Provisional Guide, Kira Jumet and Merouan MekouarPart 3: Legal Threats and Red LinesChapter 11: Lacan in Vietnam: Managing Anxiety and Minimizing Surveillance (Vietnam), Cuong NguyenChapter 12: Nowhere to Hide: An Egyptian Researcher, Between Forced Exile and Arrest (Egypt), Taqadum Al-KhatibChapter 13: Walking a Fine Line: Institutional Ambiguities and Ethical Dilemmas in Tajikistan (Tajikistan), Dilafruz Nazarova and Shahnoza NozimovaChapter 14: What Does One Do with the Nightmares? Are They Ethnographic Data or Material for a Psychoanalyst? (Nicaragua), María José Díaz ReyesChapter 15: Legal Threats and Red Lines: A Provisional Guide, Kira Jumet and Merouan MekouarPart 4: ExploitationChapter 16: Impossible Return? Vulnerability for Iranian Dual-National Researchers in the Field (Iran), Shirin SaeidiChapter 17: Questionable Solicitations and Regime Restrictions: Protecting Family, Colleagues, and Oneself while Researching in Nicaragua (Nicaragua), Jose Miguel González PerezChapter 18: Navigating Dangerous Fields: Storytelling, W _aiting, and Ethnography without Fieldnotes (Turkey), Omer OzcanChapter 19: Exploitation: A Provisional Guide, Kira Jumet and Merouan MekouarConclusionBibliography

Editorial Reviews

"This book contains a rich collection of essays about the challenges, both analytical and physical, of doing ethnographic and historical research as a national in repressive countries. There is great benefit to be gleaned from the wide range of countries covered, the comparative questions raised and the advice for researchers that is proffered by the authors and editors. This work represents an important contribution to the field and offers a set of perspectives that are rarely presented." — Bernard Haykel, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University

"This volume helps fill a void in research on threats to scholars conducting fieldwork in their countries of origin and provides much-needed practical guidance in navigating those threats within a variety of contexts. By highlighting native scholars' challenging fieldwork experiences, this set of research raises awareness about the wide-ranging threats to scholars and their families, while concurrently striving to help anyone seeking advice on safe fieldwork practices." — Clare Farne Robinson, Scholars at Risk

"This volume is a tour de force! Kira Jumet and Merouan Mekouar have assembled a remarkable set of chapters from around the world reflecting on the ethics and politics of fieldwork research in repressive contexts. With an impressive regional breadth, and a compelling range of thematic foci, this book will resonate deeply with emerging and established scholars alike. I was deeply moved by the generosity of individual contributors in sharing their experiences of vulnerability and resilience—as well as the roadmap that their insights collectively provide for scholars committed to decolonizing knowledge production. I cannot recommend this volume highly enough!" — Sa'ed Atshan, Chair of Peace and Conflict Studies, Swarthmore College

"This book contains a rich collection of essays about the challenges, both analytical and physical, of doing ethnographic and historical research as a national in repressive countries. There is great benefit to be gleaned from the wide range of countries covered, the comparative questions raised and the advice for researchers that is proffered by the authors and editors. This work represents an important contribution to the field and offers a set of perspectives that are rarely presented." — Bernard Haykel, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University

"This volume helps fill a void in research on threats to scholars conducting fieldwork in their countries of origin and provides much-needed practical guidance in navigating those threats within a variety of contexts. By highlighting native scholars' challenging fieldwork experiences, this set of research raises awareness about the wide-ranging threats to scholars and their families, while concurrently striving to help anyone seeking advice on safe fieldwork practices." — Clare Farne Robinson, Scholars at Risk

From the Publisher