Abstract
Researchers working in post-conflict contexts have very good reasons to consider ethics as something much more substantive than simple accountability, and to reflect deeply on how we impact, or fail to impact, on communities we study. This chapter examines the ethical shortcomings of my own extensive ethnographic research conducted in rural Sierra Leone. Through an extended narrative describing the context of my research that also seeks to provide some insight into the lives of my interlocutors, the chapter explores my own responsibilities beyond those stipulated by formal ethical requirements and, sadly, reflects on my failure to meet these responsibilities. If I had known then what I know now, my research would have been substantially more engaged, proactive, and relevant to socio-economic problems in post-conflict societies.
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Millar, G. (2021). The Ethics of Ethnographic Peace and Conflict Research. In: Mac Ginty, R., Brett, R., Vogel, B. (eds) The Companion to Peace and Conflict Fieldwork. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46433-2_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46433-2_10
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