Abstract
Conducting research where everyday life is plagued with fear and suspicion does have a personal cost. Linda Green (1994, p. 228) observes regarding her research among women in the Xe’caj area of Guatemala, ‘Fear became the metanarrative of my research and experience’. As the above passage from my field diary highlights, this type of chronic fear had a similar impact on my research and me. When I entered the domain of lived experiences of my participants, fear and suspicion became very much a part of my everyday life, playing a dominant role in how I constructed and pursued the research process. Fear was the greatest limitation and barrier as well as the deciding factor for my early departure from the field.
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© 2013 Larissa Begley
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Begley, L. (2013). The RPF Control Everything! Fear and Rumour under Rwanda’s Genocide Ideology Legislation. In: Thomson, S., Ansoms, A., Murison, J. (eds) Emotional and Ethical Challenges for Field Research in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137263759_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137263759_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-44273-7
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