Researchers working on armed conflict and political violence grapple with many challenges over the course of their fieldwork. Among them are questions of ethics, power and representation, which must be carefully considered if researchers are going to mitigate the effects of enduring systems of power and privilege on their collection and dissemination of information. They need to reflect on how they will produce and represent information, who their audiences will be, and, ultimately, who will end up benefiting from their work.
These challenges are especially acute in the context of wartime sexual violence. Thanks to sustained media coverage and an increase in research, scholars and policy-makers now know that sexual violence is deployed frequently and often strategically in times of conflict. But this familiarity, which is often based in sensationalised and voyeuristic accounts of atrocity, does not necessarily imply a deep understanding of the various issues at stake. For example, many people believe that wartime sexual violence almost exclusively affects women, and remain largely unaware of the extent to which male-directed gendered violence is prevalent in war zones as well. Such partial knowledge can lead to unhelpful or even dangerous conclusions, and can for instance result in limited (or no) services for sexual violence survivors of all genders.
To help researchers navigate these pitfalls I have drawn together a selection of lessons learned and best practices for conducting research with male survivors of wartime sexual abuse. Many of these come out of my own research experience in Northern Uganda. Such work is never easy. But, with some careful thought and planning, the ethical challenges that arise during fieldwork in this branch of scholarship can be mitigated, circumvented and addressed.
