Collaborative Methodologies in Conflict Settings

Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs 

Maxwell African Scholars Union

present

Collaborative Methodologies in Conflict Settings 

A Talk by Susan Thomson, Peace and Conflict Studies Program, Colgate University, Center for Security Studies, Dalhousie University

Should researchers conduct interviews in conflict-affected settings?  If we can, what are the methodological, ethical and practical challenges of fieldwork? Drawing on 15 years of fieldwork in Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa, Susan Thomson (Colgate University) will discuss the politics of interviewing in difficult settings. Thomson will consider, in conversation with the audience, questions such as, how can we access the people we wish to interview? What kind of relationships are interviews premised upon? What can we learn from interviews, and how does interview data become academic knowledge?

Methods Café to follow at 2pm in Eggers 341.    

Sponsored by Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs, and Maxwell African Scholars Union 

Contact Havva Karakas-Keles for more information: hkarakas@syr.edu