Can I dance over the bodies of the dead? On the impossibility of participant observation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7471990 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sarah Hamdar (0009-0009-8162-0570, American University of Beirut, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Anthropology & Humanism (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1548-1409 • E-ISSN: 1559-9167 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/anhu.70071 |
| OpenAlex | W7117245902 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 24 |
This article is an autoethnographic essay on the challenges of conducting participant observation in times of crises, both on a personal and on a national level. To summarize, I trace the evolution of my own personal research itinerary, which focuses on Beirut's leisure and clubbing scene during the internal political turmoil in Lebanon and, later on, the 2024 war with Israel. Finally, I examine the impact of these events on my very ability to conduct research, how they affected my relationship to the field and, ultimately, the decisions I needed to make. In conclusion, this essay adds to a growing body of research on ethnography in dangerous times and places: what becomes of research when research becomes impossible
Dance · Ethnography · Field (mathematics · Field research · Impossibility · Participant observation · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Middle East Politics and Society · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics
The Politics of Engaged Gender Research in the Arab Region
Jihad through ‘music’
Inaccessible Fields
The violence we live in’
Being, doing and knowing in the field
Sensory reverberations
To fear and to defy
What Leads Some Lebanese Shiis to Support Hizballah
Hizbullah in the Civilising Process
Ethnography in War and Peace
General/Theoretical Anthropology
The Making of Symbolic Interactionism
Rolling the Windows Up
The Four Square Laundry
Remembering Karbala in the diaspora
The Ethical Challenges of Field Research in Conflict Zones
Participant Observation in Violent Social Contexts
The War is Going to Ignite
Ethnography, calamities and war
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |