Listening to difficult stories: Listening as a research methodology

• Published in: Emotion, space and society Vol. 31; pp. 18 - 25
• Main Author: Ratnam, Charishma
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2019
• Subjects: Listening; Reflexivity; Refugees; Sensitive research; Stories; Reflexivity; Stories; Refugees; Listening; Sensitive research
• ISSN: 1755-4586; 1878-0040
• DOI: 10.1016/j.emospa.2019.03.003

This paper reflects on the emotional geographies of listening to difficult stories from Sri Lankan refugees and asylum seekers. I have framed this discussion within a methodological rubric of listening: the way I listened to difficult stories during interviews, and how I reflected on the process of listening afterwards. Conducted in their homes, the interviews involved participants (re)telling stories of fleeing war-torn Sri Lanka, often replete with harrowing experiences. These stories were emotional and oftentimes traumatic for participants to (re)tell. The interviews were also emotional and sometimes distressing for the interpreter employed and myself as the researcher in this sensitive setting. In this paper, I unpack how participants’ stories were told, how I listened to them, and I foreground how the presence or absence of emotions formed part of these stories. Then, I discuss my own fieldwork experiences that provided an analytic lens as I repetitively listened to, transcribed and analysed the content of the interviews. I reflect on strategies developed from my experiences and outline lessons learned from this fieldwork to facilitate pathways for researchers conducting sensitive research. •Listening involves verbal and non-verbal modalities of storytelling through gestures, atmospheres and wordless encounters.•Sri Lankan refugees told their stories of war and settlement in Sydney exhibiting stoicism, distress, and emotion.•This paper adds to existing scholarship on the nature of listening to difficult, emotional and sometimes traumatic stories.•Reflecting on strategies to deal with difficult stories and content is essential for researchers.