Paper short abstract:

Research in the violent townships of Cape Town revealed how methodological obstacles and feelings of anxiety open up avenues for further inquiry into the nexus of intimacy, violence, and social interdependencies.

Paper long abstract:

Successful ethnography is often thought of in terms of the researcher obtaining intimacy and belonging. When I hear anthropologists converse about the close ties they have in the communities they study; how they are adopted by a family; how they see children grow up in multi-generational households; and have several beers in bars and taverns, I cannot help but feel somewhat envious and inadequate. The source of envy concerns the intimacy that their fieldwork enables; inadequacy about my own research in the Townships of Cape Town, South Africa.

When I return to 'my street', where I did extensive research in 1997/98, most (Xhosa) residents have left and are untraceable. When I visit Edith, my research assistant with whom I work since 1997, the social composition of her household has changed beyond recognition. Moreover, violence was a constant obstacle and source of anxiety as people I got to know were murdered, became victims of assault, or told me how they assaulted others. I had to constantly deal with safety and the numerous precautions I took only marginally decreased my anxiety. The anxieties that were part of the ethnographic endeavor offered further lines of inquiry. In this paper I will argue that the methodological challenges of ethnographic research generate crucial insights into life in contemporary urban South Africa, particularly with regards to the nexus of intimacy, violence, and social interdependencies.