A vicarious scar Secondary trauma and ethnographic care in fieldwork

Difficult challenges are an unavoidable aspect of doing ethnographic fieldwork in sensitive spaces or on sensitive subjects. A less commonly discussed problem, however, is the impact that vicarious or secondary traumas can have on researchers. Here, I discuss my experience of secondary trauma in con...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAmerican ethnologist Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 73 - 78
Main Author Routon, Erin
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Arlington Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.02.2025
Subjects
Detention
Ethnographers
Ethnography
Fieldwork
Legal advocacy
Trauma
Vicarious trauma
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Summary:Difficult challenges are an unavoidable aspect of doing ethnographic fieldwork in sensitive spaces or on sensitive subjects. A less commonly discussed problem, however, is the impact that vicarious or secondary traumas can have on researchers. Here, I discuss my experience of secondary trauma in conducting research with legal advocates in family‐detention facilities in the US. Even in work in which trauma is centered, I show, the traumatic “wounds” of fieldwork can go unidentified, to the researcher's own detriment. I echo calls for our discipline to better recognize how ethnographers experience trauma, which results in part from continued disciplinary norms, and to reconsider our work as care. Additionally, I call for further attention to the more complex psycho/somatic traumas that can result from field research.
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ISSN:0094-0496
1548-1425
DOI:10.1111/amet.13379