This book sheds light on the intricacies of conducting fieldwork on highly politicized and sensitive topics as well as in conflict settings. It addresses both the epistemological and theoretical along with the practical challenges related to such fieldwork in Kurdish Studies.

• Cover
• MethodologicalApproaches in KurdishStudies
• Methodological Approaches in Kurdish Studies: Theoretical and Practical Insights from the Field
• Copyright page
• Contents
• Introduction
  • Conducting “Risky” Fieldwork
  • The Kurdish Geography of Fieldwork
  • The geographical and political context: The Kurdish case
  • Reflecting on Fieldwork Experiences
  • The Contributions
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
• Research Fields on the Move: On Space and Knowledge
  • Chapter 1
  • Critical Ethnography
    • From Securitization Theory to Critical Ethnography
    • Practical Tools for an Ethnographer
    • Pursuing Critical Ethnography in Kurdish Studies
    • Concluding Thoughts
    • Notes
    • Bibliography
  • Chapter 2
  • Living Structures
    • The Problem
    • The Rural and the Village
    • Conclusions: Methodological Propositions
    • Notes
    • Bibliography
  • Chapter 3
  • Online-Offline Research on Diasporic Identities
    • Multisited Methodology: Why do Online-Offline Research?
    • How Do We Distinguish Meaningful Data?
    • The Insider-Outsider Dialectic
    • Ethical Considerations
    • Conclusions
    • Notes
    • Bibliography
  • Chapter 4
  • Tracing Global History through the Kurds in the Imperial and National Archives and Beyond
    • The Return of History to the Social Sciences: Studying Historical Sources from an Ethnographic Angle
    • The Challenges of Doing a Transnational History through the Kurds
    • Overcoming Challenges through Parallel Practices of Archiving, Critique, and Triangulation
    • Conclusion
    • Notes
    • Bibliography
• Fieldwork in Troubled Terrains
  • Chapter 5
  • Troubled Terrain
    • Troubled terrain
    • Boundary work
    • Hegemony from the Margins
    • Conclusion
    • Note
    • Bibliography
  • Chapter 6
  • Working on Communities under Political Domination
    • Subalternity and the Kurds in Turkey
    • Working with the Subaltern
    • Positioning Myself: Who Am I?
    • Working in a Dangerous Field, or “Who Are You?”
    • Conclusion
    • Note
    • Bibliography
  • Chapter 7
  • Feeling Solidarity in an Estranged City
    • Insider’s Burden
    • Changing Positionalities at the Times of Uncertainties
    • When Site Becomes Definitive
    • Multiplicity of Insiderness
    • Conclusion
    • Notes
    • Bibliography
• Insider, Outsider, or Something Beyond?
  • Chapter 8
  • Outsiders Twice Over in Kurdistan
    • Outsiderness
    • The Sampling Process: Whom We Did and Did Not Interview?
    • The Challenges of the Interview Process
    • Communicating across Political, Cultural, and Linguistic Cleavages
    • Conclusion
    • Notes
    • Bibliography
  • Chapter 9
  • The Omnipresent Absentee?
    • The Omnipresence of the PKK
    • The Elephant in the Room
    • Avoiding Complicity in the Criminalization of the Kurdish Movement
    • The Researcher as an Ally?
    • The “Terrorist Box”
    • Conclusion
    • Notes
    • Bibliography
  • Chapter 10
  • “She’s Turkish but Good”
    • Research Question and Methodology: Values and Queries
    • The Familiar Pendulum: Researcher as an Insider versus Outsider
    • Power Relations in the Field: But Whose Power?
    • “I Do Have Kurdish friends” versus “She’s Turkish but Good”
    • Herstory of the Field
    • Who Is This “Researcher”?
    • Concluding Remarks
    • Notes
    • Bibliography
  • Chapter 11
  • Straddling the Insider-Outsider Divide
    • The Kurdish-Turkish Conflict
    • Social Identity and Self-Categorization
    • Multiple Identities and Navigating the Insider-Outside Line
    • Privilege and Intersectionality
    • Perspectives of Kurdish Participants
    • Conclusion
    • Notes
    • Bibliography
• Essays on Field Experiences
  • Chapter 12
  • Beyond the Insider-Outsider Dichotomy
    • Locating the Field Site in Times of Crisis
    • Reflecting on Fieldwork Processes
    • (Re)learning How to Be Kurdish
    • Becoming a Kurdish Anomaly
    • Shaping Methodology throughout Fieldwork
    • Conclusion
    • Notes
    • Bibliography
  • Chapter 13
  • Embedded Research and Political Violence
    • Studying Violence
    • Revolutionary Violence as Fun?
    • Embedded Research?
    • Crossing Conflict Lines
    • Institutional Difficulties and Freelance Research
    • Becoming a Terrorist?
    • Conclusion
    • Notes
    • Bibliography
  • Conclusion
    • The Importance and Dynamics of Positionality
    • External and Systemic Challenges that the Researcher and the Researched Face
    • The Limitations and the Opportunities of the Field
    • Promising New Vistas to Explore
    • Bibliography
  • Index
  • About the Contributors