Consent, Mediation, and Complicity
The Complex Ethics of Informed Consent and Scholarly Representation in Violent Contexts
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3192135 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Miranda Cady Hallett (University of Dayton, corresponding author), Sandra Gruner-Domic (Independent Researcher, Los Angeles, CA, USA) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 70-93 |
| Publication date | 2021-01-05 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Geopolitics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1465-0045 • E-ISSN: 1557-3028 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14650045.2019.1654460 |
| OpenAlex | W2971462383 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 36 |
As fieldworkers engage in research in unstable social contexts, standard processes of informed consent are complicated and unsettled. In addition, our work in the field raises complex questions of potential complicity with the violence around us. In this paper, we present a comparative autoethnographic analysis of these dynamics in distinct fieldwork and archival projects dealing with topics of state violence: Gruner-Domic’s work drawing on video archives of testimonios of genocide survivors in Guatemala, and Hallett’s research on the experiences of Salvadoran migrants in the U.S. immigrant detention regime. Both research projects entailed challenges in accessing data without contributing to further violence in the lives of research subjects, given complex and unpredictable future risks and fraught political fields involving warped representations of research subjects. Drawing on these experiences, we argue that ethical responses to such complex field research problems require a flexible approach to methodology, an acute critical reflection on the reproduction of violence, and an awareness of the temporal-geographic complexity and fluidity of risk. While ensuring that we follow standardised protocols for consent and data analysis, researchers should also be prepared to move beyond the standard and think both critically and concretely about our ethical obligations not only while collecting data, but also in the construction of representations
Complicity · Criminology · Engineering ethics · Field research · Informed consent · Mediation · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Research ethics · Social science · Sociology · Engineering · Law · Medicine · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Oral History, Memory, Narrative Analysis · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics
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| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2024 (2) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |