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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| Published in | American ethnologist Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 73 - 78 |
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| Main Author | |
| Format | Journal Article |
| Language | English |
| Published |
Arlington
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
01.02.2025
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| Online Access | Get full text |
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| Abstract | 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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| AbstractList | 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. |
| Author | Routon, Erin |
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| Cites_doi | 10.1108/QROM‐10‐2021‐2221 10.1525/9780520947825 10.1177/1609406919893161 10.1002/smi.3353 10.1177/153476560501100303 10.1037/tra0000414 10.1086/382250 10.1177/2277436X19844898 10.1080/14650045.2019.1612880 10.46743/2160‐3715/2023.5387 10.1177/08912416241238449 10.1177/1466138119839088 10.14506/ca36.2.06 10.1111/j.1548‐1433.2010.01250.x 10.1177/1468794107078515 10.22582/am.v11i2.10 10.2307/jj.15306402.7 10.2307/jj.15306402 |
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| References | Scheper‐Hughes Nancy (e_1_2_4_26_1) 2004 Das Veena. (e_1_2_4_5_1) 1990 Routon Erin. (e_1_2_4_25_1) 2024 e_1_2_4_21_1 Routon Erin. (e_1_2_4_23_1) 2018 Foucault Michel. (e_1_2_4_10_1) 1977 e_1_2_4_20_1 Haas Bridget M. (e_1_2_4_13_1) 2023 e_1_2_4_22_1 e_1_2_4_24_1 e_1_2_4_27_1 Beckett Greg. (e_1_2_4_3_1) 2019 e_1_2_4_29_1 e_1_2_4_28_1 e_1_2_4_2_1 e_1_2_4_7_1 e_1_2_4_6_1 e_1_2_4_9_1 e_1_2_4_8_1 e_1_2_4_11_1 e_1_2_4_12_1 e_1_2_4_14_1 e_1_2_4_15_1 e_1_2_4_16_1 e_1_2_4_18_1 Chakrabarti Devi. (e_1_2_4_4_1) 2024 e_1_2_4_17_1 e_1_2_4_19_1 |
| References_xml | – ident: e_1_2_4_15_1 – start-page: 1 volume-title: Violence in War and Peace: An Anthology year: 2004 ident: e_1_2_4_26_1 – ident: e_1_2_4_7_1 doi: 10.1108/QROM‐10‐2021‐2221 – ident: e_1_2_4_11_1 doi: 10.1525/9780520947825 – ident: e_1_2_4_9_1 doi: 10.1177/1609406919893161 – year: 2018 ident: e_1_2_4_23_1 article-title: The Trauma of Helping Asylum‐Seekers publication-title: Sapiens – ident: e_1_2_4_19_1 doi: 10.1002/smi.3353 – ident: e_1_2_4_17_1 doi: 10.1177/153476560501100303 – ident: e_1_2_4_28_1 doi: 10.1037/tra0000414 – ident: e_1_2_4_8_1 doi: 10.1086/382250 – year: 2019 ident: e_1_2_4_3_1 article-title: Staying with the Feeling: Trauma, Humility, and Care in Ethnographic Fieldwork publication-title: Anthrodendum – ident: e_1_2_4_12_1 doi: 10.1177/2277436X19844898 – ident: e_1_2_4_20_1 doi: 10.1080/14650045.2019.1612880 – ident: e_1_2_4_18_1 doi: 10.46743/2160‐3715/2023.5387 – year: 2024 ident: e_1_2_4_4_1 article-title: Discomfort as a Transformative Ethnographic Method publication-title: Anthropology News – ident: e_1_2_4_21_1 doi: 10.1177/08912416241238449 – ident: e_1_2_4_16_1 doi: 10.1177/1466138119839088 – start-page: 345 volume-title: Mirrors of Violence: Communities, Riots and Survivors in South Asia year: 1990 ident: e_1_2_4_5_1 – ident: e_1_2_4_24_1 doi: 10.14506/ca36.2.06 – ident: e_1_2_4_2_1 doi: 10.1111/j.1548‐1433.2010.01250.x – ident: e_1_2_4_6_1 doi: 10.1177/1468794107078515 – ident: e_1_2_4_22_1 doi: 10.22582/am.v11i2.10 – ident: e_1_2_4_27_1 – ident: e_1_2_4_14_1 doi: 10.2307/jj.15306402.7 – volume-title: Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison year: 1977 ident: e_1_2_4_10_1 – year: 2024 ident: e_1_2_4_25_1 article-title: A Reliable Narrator publication-title: Anthropology News – ident: e_1_2_4_29_1 doi: 10.2307/jj.15306402 – volume-title: Suspended Lives: Navigating Everyday Violence in the US Asylum System year: 2023 ident: e_1_2_4_13_1 |
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