Paper short abstract:

Addressing experiences in the field which conflict with a researcher's core beliefs as a mental health concern is fundamental to ethical ethnography. Maintaining mental health in the field is a process with improves the research practice for both the researcher and the participants.

Paper long abstract:

The ethical practice of 'acknowledging our biases' has long existed within anthropology; examining how our core beliefs may affect our perceptions and interactions in the field. Meanwhile, despite improved mental health competencies, we rarely address the interaction of mental health and fieldwork. I advocate for going beyond the acknowledgement of our own core beliefs, to actively engage with the question of how fieldwork may create mental health concerns for us when our field situation is in conflict with our world view; and continuously re-evaluating how we can best care for our mental health in the field. I examine my own process and experiences, conducting fieldwork in Israel with a base in Jerusalem, and approximately 25-30% of my Haredi (ultra-orthodox Jewish) participants living in the West Bank. Due to these locations, sometimes what was important for my physical safety was at odds with what might have improved my mental health. I conducted fieldwork with a community of which I was once a part, but which I had chosen to leave. Furthermore, while research with those with whom I disagree is a fundamental underpinning of my research rationale, it can nevertheless be stressful and overwhelming, compounding issues that already exist in the isolating and exhausting practice of fieldwork. My pursuit of positive mental health in fieldwork has led me to some surprising solutions, and impacted both my methods and the focus of my research, resulting in a stronger contribution to the field of anthropology.