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Accepted Paper:
Field of screams revisited: contending with trauma in ethnographic fieldwork
Caitlin Procter
(Geneva Graduate Institute)
Branwen Spector
(University College London)
Trauma can come into tension with anthropological methods in many different ways. Based on a survey conducted among anthropologists in 2023, we argue for the integration of trauma into methods training, presenting ideas to enable a shift in attitudes towards trauma in Anthropology departments.
Paper Abstract:
Trauma can come into tension with anthropological methods in many different ways. In this paper, we revisit Pollard’s (2009) survey of the emotional experiences of fieldwork among anthropology PhD students, entitled ‘Field of Screams: Difficulty and ethnographic fieldwork’, which is to our knowledge the first systematic study of emotional and psychological impacts of anthropological fieldwork on the researcher. We then discuss our research into the experiences of anthropologists engaged in fieldwork, drawing from a survey conducted in 2023, in which we sought to understand: (1) preparation for fieldwork, including personal preparation, formal support and the ethics process; (2) fieldwork experiences, including forms of trauma exposure and other aspects of context which may have heightened vulnerability or reactivity to traumatic stressors; (3) researcher responses to accumulated distress of fieldwork; and finally (4) how supervisory relationships and institutional culture shape and influence researchers’ experience. We argue for the integration of trauma into research methods training, presenting ideas to enable a shift in attitudes towards trauma in Anthropology departments. This paper draws from an article co-authored with Maureen Freed, UKCP-accredited practitioner and supervisor of psychotherapy, specialising in trauma who has led a Trauma Clinic treating fieldwork-related trauma at a university in the UK, and trains researchers to help prevent and mitigate the emotional and psychological impact of research.