Paper short abstract:

During fieldwork I felt fear. The experience of fear made me revisit my field notes and the interviews I conducted, and realize how important fear was in the interlocutors' narratives. I will discuss what fear taught me of my research and of anthropological epistemology and methodology.

Paper long abstract:

During fieldwork I experienced fear. This fear came from nowhere, it was uncontrollable, it went against all of the positive experiences I had had in the field, it went against everything I believed in. It aggravated me. I had to take a distance and think about it and about me and my positioning in the field.

The experience of fear made me revisit my field notes and the interviews I conducted with Israeli Jewish left-wing women, who, following their activism and dissent, moved to Palestinian localities in the West Bank. The interviews and fieldwork were part of my Ph.D. research which explores the perceptions of political action and the sovereignty of Israeli-Jews whose opposition to the Israeli control over the Palestinian territories and population caused them to exile themselves from Israel. Since my main interest is political action and sovereignty, I tended to look for these themes when analyzing the data. But, having felt fear, and having read the materials again, I realized how important fear was in the interlocutors' narratives. I went back to some of them and called the others to discuss my experience, and theirs.

In my presentation, I will unfold my experiences of fear, the experience of fear the interlocutors had in Palestine, the meaning they gave to the presence of fear as well as to the experience of feeling safe and welcomed in Palestine. I will conclude with what fear taught me of sovereignty and political action and of anthropological epistemology and methodology.