Apologies for cross posting
Call for Participants*
Challenges of Qualitative Methods in “Illiberal” Contexts
AAG Annual Meeting, New York City, 2012
Organizer: Natalie Koch (University of Colorado, Boulder)
Research and guidance on qualitative methods in geography is typically
based on how these methods work in Western, liberal, and/or democratic
settings. This panel aims to bring together geographers from various
subfields and regions of study to discuss the unique challenges of
employing qualitative methods in “illiberal” settings. Recognizing that
the “illiberal” label is itself problematic, this panel aims to engage
theoretical discussions of power in places that have not followed
liberal trajectories of government (Foucault 2007, 2010) – or that might
be considered pockets of “non-liberal governmentality” within liberal
settings (Dean 1999).
This panel will explore the unique challenges of research in these
contexts, which are often characterized by a “culture of fear” stemming
from such diverse settings as zones of warfare or humanitarian crisis,
to detention centers, to authoritarian states. Geographers often face so
many difficulties in these settings that they often resort to employing
quantitative methods or non-fieldwork-based methods, such as discourse
analysis. Yet these methods can often fail to produce meaningful insight
into certain research questions, which demand qualitative methods. The
goal of this session is thus to explore how geographers have worked with
these challenges in their efforts to use fieldwork-based, qualitative
methods, such as interviews, participant observation, focus groups,
surveys, participatory action research, etc.
*This call invites panelists to speak on any of the following questions
(or others you consider relevant), based on your own fieldwork
experiences in “illiberal” contexts:*
·How can we theorize or talk about research in the diverse array of
places that are categorized as “illiberal,” “unfree,” “authoritarian,”
“non-democratic,” etc.?
·What makes research in these places different from (or similar to)
“Western,” “liberal,” and/or “democratic” settings?
·From framing research questions to the quotidian practices of employing
methodological tools, how is our understanding of power implicated in
the entire research process in these contexts?
·How can we effectively design geographical research in these contexts?
·How is our understanding of “the field” implicated in research design
and implementation?
·What methodological tools have you found to be productive? Unproductive?
·What are the ethical concerns of employing qualitative methods, and how
can we overcome them in our research?
·How can we address the politics of data being considered “reliable”?
·How can we account for the silences in a “culture of fear,” which are
fundamental to the making of meaning in these contexts (Mitchell 2002)?
*Please note: This proposal is for a panel discussion, not a paper
session. Panel participants are still eligible to present a paper in a
paper session. Panels are 100-minute discussions between panelists and
audience members. The structure does not require formal presentations,
but in order to assess how to structure the panel(s), I ask that you
send a short abstract of what you would like to discuss. If there is
enough interest, I can also arrange a paper session on this subject.
Please send the following by *September 15* to: [email protected]
1. Name, affiliation
2. Panelist or paper presentation (if you would consider both, indicate
a preference)
3. 250-word (max) abstract
Dean, Mitchell. 1999. /Governmentality: Power and Rule in Modern
Society/. London: Sage Publications.
Foucault, Michel. 2007. /Security, Territory, Population: Lectures at
the Collège de France 1977--1978/. New York: Picador.
Foucault, Michel. 2010. /Government of the Self and Others: Lectures at
the Collège de France, 1982-1983/. Translated by G. Burchell. New York:
Picador.
Mitchell, Timothy. 2002. /Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-politics,
Modernity/. Berkeley: University of California Press.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Natalie Koch
PhD Candidate
Department of Geography
University of Colorado, Boulder
US: +1 (303) 564-4573
DE: +49 (1515) 535-06-90
http://geography.colorado.edu/people/grad_student/koch_natalie1
