NOTES

"The Anthropology and Ethnography of Violence and Sociopolitical Conflict," Antonius C.G.M. Robben and Carolyn Nordstrom, 1995, in Fieldwork Under Fire: Contemporary Studies of Violence and Survival, C. Nordstrom and A.C.G.M. Robben eds., Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, pp. 1-23.

I. What is violence (including war)? key = violence (including war) is culturally constructed, i.e. has to do with meaning and conflicting meanings (cf. Mead's war is only a cultural invention not a biological necessity)
1. Life threatening crisis (immediate, intense, dramatic, trauma, danger)
2. Chaos (confusing, bewildering, havoc)
3. Senseless (ambiguous, inconclusive, indeterminate, incongruence, irrational)
4. Conflict (contested)
5. Power struggle (structure, context)
6. Ordinary experience (everyday life & reality)
in essence ---- war is a conflict between armed forces which is lethal, chaotic, and often senseless (yet can be an everyday experience for ordinary people in some places)

II. How do anthropologists study violence (including war)?

MODERNIST POSTMODERNIST

1. scientific humanistic

2. materialist mentalist

3. essentialist constructivist (or constructionist)

4. universalist relativist (context, historicity,
situated or conditional) (p. 13)

5. single objective reality multiple subjective realities (5)*

6. rational coherency contradictory realities (p. 12)

7. empirical facts representations & interpretations

8. analyze data & test interpretation & explanation of texts
hypotheses for laws (deconstruct discourses)

9. discover & explain portray experiences and meanings
causes & functions

10. objectivity through recognize objectivity as myth
neutrality or detachment grapple with subjectivity and involvement

11. final authority no final authority,only reflexivity
* There is "no ahistorical, absolute, finite reality." (p. 12)

III. What specific theoretical-methodological framework are the authors developing and advocating for the study of violence (including war), and why?

1. Examine power dynamics, relationships, and responses in violent context as social/human drama and conflicting meanings

2. Consider all three actors in any situation of violent conflict:
perpetrators, victims, and observers (including anthropologist)
-anthropologist experiences as well as studies violence, not immune to becoming victim (p. 14)
-existential shock - disorientation about the boundaries of life and death (p. 13)

3. Reveal violence as an everyday life experience - the human side of conflict (p. 10)

4. Anthropologist takes responsibility - speak out against injustice, doing nothing is condoning it (p. 11)
-ethical dilemmas - detached observer or compassionate participant outraged at injustice and suffering [human rights violations] (p. 19)
-anthropologist has to decide where research ends and personal involvement begins - line may not always be clear cut (p. 19)

5. Accidental anthropology - when a fieldworker is suddenly caught in a violent situation he/she may persist in original research, seek another area where safe, abandon research and return home, or remain at site and change research focus to study situation (p. 16) (see Sluka on personal safety)

Suggested references
Atkinson, Paul, 1992, Understanding Ethnographic Texts, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Avruch, Kevin, 1998, Culture & Conflict Resolution, Washington, D.C.: US Institute of Peace Press.
Eller, Jack David, 1999, From Culture to Ethnicity to Conflict: An Anthropological Perspective on International Ethnic Conflict, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Hammersley, Martyn, 1990, Reading Ethnographic Research: A Critical Guide, New York, NY: Longman.
Howell, Nancy, 1990, Surviving Fieldwork, Washington, D.C.: AAA Special Publication.
Lee, Raymond M., 1995, Dangerous Fieldwork, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Maanen, John Van, 1995, Representation in Ethnography, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Nordstrom, Carolyn, 1997, A Different Kind of War, Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Nordstrom, Carolyn, and JoAnn Martin, eds., 1992, The Paths of Domination, Resistance, and Terror, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Thomas, Jim, 1993, Doing Critical Ethnography, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.