Date & Time

November 21 (Tue.) 2023, 17:40~19:10

Venue

302, Online meeting

Program

Title: Doing research in transboundary conflict contexts: Reflections from the field in Uganda

Presenter: Dr. Constance Mudondo (Makerere University)

Although research in conflict-context has been presented to be critical in peace making process, the field experiences of researchers are seldom highlighted. This article illustrates experiences of doing research in transboundary conflict contexts. Using the conflict in Namatala transboundary wetland in Eastern Uganda, the article draws on the reflections from the field and highlights the researchers' practical experiences of doing research in transboundary conflict contexts. The study which adopted a mixed approach employed a number of methods to collect data, that is household surveys, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. This article illustrates that researchers in transboundary conflict contexts have numerous experiences that include; how their identity shapes penetration to the field, navigating power relations among and between participants, ensuring safety of participants during data collection, how political and social events shape the research process, dealing with their emotions and how to navigate community gender dynamics during data collection. The article demonstrates that the conflict fields shape how participants perceive the researchers, how data is generated and how the researchers navigate research fields. This article demonstrates that researchers in conflict contexts ought to be very flexible and take note of the undertones of the changing conflict context.

Kew words: Conflict, Research experiences, Transboundary areas, Wetlands

Admission: Free

Pre-registration is required.

Language: English

For registration, please see here.

For details, please see here.

Jointly sponsored by TUFS Field Science Commons (TUFiSCo), African Studies Center-TUFS