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Paper Short Abstract:

The paper addresses the difficulties of doing fieldwork on witchcraft and demonic possession in Romania and Russia and of living as academic migrants with family, dealing constantly with stress and insecurity.

Paper Abstract:

Are we choosing our research topics, or they are choosing us? Is there any relationship between our life history, family background and our research?

As a young doctoral student, I spent years studying witchcraft in a Romanian village, where my family lives. Later on, as a postdoc, I went to study demonic possession, exorcism and conversion in Russia, together with my anthropologist husband and two small children. We divorced after this fieldwork and I continued my life as a single mother, being employed by research institutions and university departments, moving several times with the children.

While the difficulties of studying witchcraft and demonic possession were problematic only for myself, migration and insecurity were constantly challenging the mental health of the family members. Writing up past research, engaging in new ones for the sake of survival, and caring for mental health went hand in hand in the last fifteen years. The paper aims to share empowering experiences and related reflections.