Conference
Researching Violence and Conflict: Methodological Considerations
04-05 July 2008
SOAS, Room B111 (Brunei gallery building)
Friday 04 July
Time
9am
9.30-11am
Panels/Speakers
Introduction/Welcome
Christopher Cramer, Convenor
ETHICS
Uncertain Ethics: Researching Civil War
in Sudan, Sharon Hutchinson,
University of Wisconsin
When the ethical line is blurred: the case
of Darfur Fatima Hadji, ICAR, George
Mason University
Violence in Post-conflict Societies: What
Justice for Perpetrators and Victims?
Chris Agora, University of Bradford and
UN mission in Liberia
11-11.30
11.30-1pm
Research in Violent Humanitarian Aid
Contexts: Methodological Difficulties
and Ethical Dilemmas Joelma Almeida,
Africa Studies Centre, Lisbon
Coffee Break
OBJECTIVITY
Researching conflicts in Africa: a
researcher’s account of Ife-Modakeke,
Nigeria Olajide O Akanji, Redeemer’s
University, Nigeria
Gender, sexuality, ‘culture’, power and
violence: this African feminist
interventions in research methodology
Danai Mupotsa, School of Arts, Monash
South Africa
Strategies to overcome asymmetric data
collection in contested borderlands :
Evidence from fieldwork in Eritrea and in
Ethiopia in the aftermath of the 19982000 border war Alexandra Dias,
Centro Estudos Africanos, Lisbon
1-2pm
2-3.30pm
Hidden Agendas in conflict research:
Informants’ interests and objectivity of
research in the Niger Delta Ukoha
Ukiwo, Port Harcourt University
Lunch
HUMAN SECURITY
Methodological issues in researching
separated children Giorgia Dona,
University of East London
Challenges of researching the Extent of
mercenarism and its impact on human
security in Africa Sabelo NdlovuGatsheni, Ferguson Centre for African
and Asian Studies, Open University
3.30-4pm
4-5.30pm
Researching conflict: how violence
shaped fieldwork in northern
Mozambique Ana Margarida Santos,
Oxford University
Tea Break
RESEARCH FOR APPLIED
CONTEXTS
Researching the reintegration of formerly
abducted children in Northern Uganda:
the challenge of action research
Margaret Angucia, University of
Groningen, The Netherlands/Uganda
Martyrs University, Nkozi, Uganda
Doing research in a conflict zone while
working for an NGO
Nanette Barkey, Iowa University
Ethics and security needs assessments : a
background paper in support of field
operations Derek Miller & Ron Scollon,
UNIDIR
5.30-7.30
David Buchbinder, HRW
Reception, Brunei Suite
Saturday 05 July
Time
9.30-11am
Panels/Speakers
STORIES & CONVERSATIONS
Studying and/or disproving rumours in
Northern Ghana Martijn Wienia,
Leiden University
Dealing with narratives on violence in
Eastern Turkey Nerina Weiss, University
of Oslo
A collaborating chronicler? Researching
tales, truth and the Lord’s Resistance
Army Mareike Schomerus, London
School of Economics
11-11.30
11.30-1pm
Methodological conversations:
researching peaceful co-existence in
Nigeria Samuel A Kafewo, Ahmadu
Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
Coffee Break
INTERSECTIONS OF ETHICS
AND METHODS
Humboldt under fire: the delicate
terrains of violent fieldwork geographies
Tobias Hagmann, University of Zurich
Methods of Social Enquiry in
Ethnographic Conflict Settings: The Case
of Kavango, Namibia Pamela Claassen,
University of Namibia
Creativity and survival in Congo’s
‘informal’ economy: some
methodological considerations Timothy
Raeymaekers, University of Ghent
1-1.30
Three Layers of Silence:
Counterinsurgency in Northeastern
Ethiopia’
Laura Hammond, SOAS
Closing Remarks
Johan Pottier, Convenor