Fieldwork Under FireContemporary Studies of Violence and Culture

Abstract

Abstract This book contains chapters written by anthropologists who have experienced the unpredictability and trauma of political violence firsthand. The chapters combine theoretical, ethnographic, and methodological points of view to illuminate the processes and solutions that characterize life in dangerous places. They describe the first, often harrowing, experience of violence, the personal and professional problems that arise as troubles escalate, and the often-surprising creative strategies people use to survive. In the book the chapters give voice to all those affected by the conditions of violence: perpetrators as well as victims, civilians and specialists, black marketeers and heroes, jackals and researchers. Focusing on everyday experiences, the chapters bring to light the puzzling contradictions of lives disturbed by violence: the simultaneous existence of laughter and suffering, of fear and hope. By doing so, they challenge the narrow conceptualization that associates violence with death and war, arguing that instead it must be considered a dimension of living.

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