De geobserveerde onderzoeker

The observed researcher: opportunities and challenges for observational research among corporate investigators This contribution discusses observational research within the context of corporate investigations. Corporate investigators are themselves keen observers of human behavior, and as such, observation of these professionals results in an interesting researcher-participant dynamic. By playing with (assumed and ascribed) roles, much information can be gathered about the daily reality of corporate investigators and how they experience this. Building trust is both essential and challenging because of professional skepticism, however, once trust was established, participants actively contributed to the research. By assuming ignorance or, conversely, knowledge in a dynamic manner, the researcher was able to make use of the roles ascribed to her based on age, gender and education level.

Waarheid en interpretatie in etnografie (deel 1)

Truth and interpretation in ethnography (part 1): Tracking clues with marginalized groups and uniformed professions This essay is the first part of a reaction to Beuving’s discussion on evidence and truth in ethnography (KWALON 74). Gigengack stresses that ethnography is inferential and involves interpretation work. Whereas social scientists may shy away from “truth,” and prefer “reality,” philosophies of truth illuminate empirical ethnography. Taking the Goffman/Mead controversies as histories of truth, Gigengack discusses created, relative, powerful, and holistic truths on the basis of these ethnographies. It brings Gigengack to a critique of functionalist-empiricist ethnography, and to point out the subjectivist and objectivist fallacies in the ethnographic practice of making truths through social facts.

Undercover etnografie en daderonderzoek in Syrië

Undercover ethnography and perpetrator research in Syria Research on perpetrators of mass violence in authoritarian contexts is beset by a number of challenges, most importantly the difficulty of managing subject positionality and transparency. For my research on Syrian perpetrators I resorted to the method of undercover ethnography in order not to jeopardize myself and my interviewees, and to circumvent the double prohibitive contexts of the secrecy of the topic, and the censorship of the Syrian government.