Fieldwork seminar: Negotiating meanings of death

Marie Ørum Wikman, PhD fellow at Engerom

Negotiating meanings of death. An ethnographic study among relatives of victims of police violence in the urban area of Buenos Aires.

My Ph.D. project is based on an ethnographic fieldwork among relatives of victims of police violence in Buenos Aires. I focus on cases where young men from poorer neighborhoods have been shot dead by the police and aspire to contribute to debates about the relationship between state and margins in an urban setting. During my first fieldwork I took a quite broad approach seeking more generally for an understanding of the perceptions of the relatives with regards to both the acts of violence and the ways in which the juridical institutions respond to them. I am now, before leaving for my second fieldwork, trying to narrow down my analytical focus with the intention of being able to work in a more focused manner during my second fieldwork. I have come to take an interest in what comes forth as ongoing negotiations about the identity of the victims, negotiations that I am coming to understand as moral constructions linked to notions about poverty and criminality. For the upcoming seminar I would like to take the opportunity to discuss the link between this analytical focus and the possibilities and limitations of my field. The questions that I would like to raise are:

 1) What is the location of – and the relationship between – the different moral dimensions within my field? (The moral negotiations seem to take place within different arenas such as the juridical disputes regarding the individual cases, the public discourses about insecurity, the talks within the neighborhoods about the killings and the narratives of the relatives about their deceased sons).

2) What are the analytical implications of my focus on the perspectives of the relatives?

3) How do I translate my focus on moral into ethnographic activities and questions?

During my first fieldwork, as I established a still closer relationship to the relatives in the cases that I am following, their personal experiences of living with loss and sorrow seemed increasingly central for their ways of telling me about the cases of their deceased sons. In addition, I would therefore like to reflect upon the relationship between moral and emotions. What would the analytical value, on the one hand, and ethical implications, on the other, of elaborating on this emotional dimension be?

ECTS: 1,8 for paper presentation and 0,3 for active participation.

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Fieldwork in the Humanities – a series of PhD seminars at ToRS

Fieldwork is at the core of many of the PhD projects at ToRS and a productive period ’in the field’ is crucial for a successful thesis. The time allowed for fieldwork is, however, limited and it is therefore of importance to have an opportunity to discuss plans and alternatives, to be able to share experiences after coming back from fieldwork and to have response on drafts of analysis when the thesis text is about to take shape.

We would therefore like to introduce a series of regular PhD seminars at ToRS on the uses of fieldwork in the humanities. During the seminars there will be an opportunity to present texts (plans, reports, drafts of analysis), discuss and scrutinize various methods for fieldwork – and report experiences as well as discuss theoretical reflections on fieldwork as a method. Fieldwork can be conducted in a number of ways and from very different analytical perspectives; many of them at work in various ToRS projects. The purpose of the seminars is not to streamline your projects, but to open up a forum for discussions about how to plan a fieldwork and still be flexible, choices of documentation, follow-up and where to draw the line. In short: share and learn from others; from tentative research questions to submission of a thesis based on fieldwork.

Some of the issues that will be discussed during the seminars:

  • designing a fieldwork plan and preparing for surprises and change of plans
  • the relation between research questions and choice of field method
  • documentation: technique, ethics and archiving
  • follow-up and processual analysis
  • combining fieldwork material(s) with other sources
  • combining fieldwork material(s) with historical studies
  • literature on fieldwork

It is strongly recommended that those of you who use fieldwork material in your thesis continuously take active part in these seminars. The seminars are intended to be a platform for discussions for every stage of fieldwork and for fieldwork in the broadest understanding of the concept. Archaeological, archival, literary and political angles are more than welcome.

Each seminar has a theme, and literature will be circulated beforehand as a preparation for the discussions. At each seminar will also one, or more PhD, candidate(s) present a piece from her/his on-going work.

ECTS: 1,8 for paper presentation and 0,3 for active participation.