M23 rebel fighters walk through the streets of Kiwanja 80km (50 miles) north of Goma, Congo in August 2012. Jerome Delay/AP/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.
More and more researchers are increasingly involved in research projects studying the ‘bad guys’ and people who perpetuate violence and social injustice. Yet the methodological and ethical challenges in such research are rarely discussed. Why should we study ‘bad guys’ and what challenges are included?
Researchers have historically avoided getting up close and personal with ‘bad guys’ such as warlords or criminals. This aversion is not particularly surprising. Fieldwork in difficult and dangerous locations is challenging from both methodological and ethical perspectives. Yet face-to-face research with ‘bad guys’ is important if we want to understand the root causes of major social and political problems. In order to understand how injustice is produced and experienced by individuals, we have to take seriously the perpetrators of violence from a methodological standpoint.
