Abstract
Researching protests and activism can contain various challenges, even more so when then the researcher embeds themselves in the protest context. Based on an ethnographic study of an environmental campaign in Sweden we will in this chapter discuss the challenges and risks the first author faced when collecting longitudinal interview and observational data. More specifically, we discuss challenges and risks related to gaining access to a protest setting, gaining access to people, gaining access to stories, maintaining access and trust, and becoming vulnerable and at risk in the field. In particular we discuss advantages, and risks, of the researcher taking sides and positioning themselves on one side of the conflict. We argue that, in the study of the Swedish environmental campaign, taking sides made us better positioned to give a more accurate account of the campaign and campaign participants through understanding the context and phenomena. We will also suggest that taking sides and becoming part of the group – sharing identity – can in some studies increase the researcher’s safety while in the field. We highlight the need for continuous negotiations and consideration while in the field to ensure both the participants’ and researcher’s safety and privacy.
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Notes
- 1.
Natura 2000 is a network of protected areas for valuable and threatened species and habitats across Europe (European Environmental Agency 2015)
- 2.
The dialogue unit was developed to function as a link between groups or people arranging protest
marches/rallies and the police (Dialogpolisen 2016). The dialogue police work based on four conflict-reducing principles: knowledge, facilitation, communication, and differentiation (e.g., Reicher et al. 2007).
- 3.
An everyday feature of Swedish culture that can be described as a collective, informal, coffee and pastry break with social features.
- 4.
A police tactic attempting to control crowds by indiscriminately surrounding a group of people. The corralling can for example involve police officers coming from all sides, or vans used to trap protesters from all sides (e.g., Fenwick 2009).
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Acknowledgements
Our deepest gratitude to the campaigners that not only gave their time to participate in the original study, but also spent a huge amount of time discussing the content of this chapter with us. Your insights are invaluable. We would also like to thank Dr. Eva Hammar Chiriac for valuable inputs and discussions.
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Vestergren, S., Drury, J. (2020). Taking Sides With Swedish Protesters: Gaining and Maintaining Trust in the Field. In: Acar, Y.G., Moss, S.M., Uluğ, Ö.M. (eds) Researching Peace, Conflict, and Power in the Field. Peace Psychology Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44113-5_9
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