Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T17:32:34.540Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sexual Harassment and Assault During Field Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2022

Stacey L. Hunt Open the ORCID record for Stacey L. Hunt [Opens in a new window]
Stacey L. Hunt*
Affiliation:
Auburn University, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Political scientists have recently taken great strides to expose and address sexual harassment and assault in our academic departments and professional conferences. Little has been said, however, of the sexual violence and discrimination that political scientists confront during field research. Female field researchers may encounter a number of power disparities that put them at acute risk for sexual violence during fieldwork, and evidence suggests that experiences of sexual misconduct in the field are both pervasive and professionally devastating. This article challenges the discipline to break its silence on sexual violence during fieldwork, remove the stigma of incompetency assigned to survivors, and support field researchers in confronting sexual harassment and assault in the field.

Type
Article
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , April 2022 , pp. 329 - 334
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bourgois, Phillipe. 2004. “The Everyday Violence of Gang Rape.” In Violence in War and Peace, ed. Scheper-Hughes, Nancy and Bourgois, Philippe, 339–43. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Caretta, Martina A., and Jokinen, Johanna C.. 2017. “Conflating Privilege and Vulnerability: A Reflexive Analysis of Emotions and Positionality in Postgraduate Fieldwork.” The Professional Geographer 69 (2): 275–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clancy, Kathryn B. H., Nelson, Robin G., Rutherford, Julienne N., and Hinde, Katie. 2014. “Survey of Academic Field Experiences (SAFE): Trainees Report Harassment and Assault.” PloS one 9 (7).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fraga, Luis Ricardo, Givens, Terri E., and Pinderhoughes, Diane M.. 2011. “Political Science in the 21st Century: Report of the Task Force on Political Science in the 21st Century.” Washington, DC: American Political Science Association. www.apsanet.org/portals/54/Files/Task%20Force%20Reports/TF_21st%20Century_AllPgs_webres90.pdf.Google Scholar
Fujii, Lee Ann. 2012. “Research Ethics 101: Dilemmas and Responsibilities.” PS: Political Science & Politics 45 (4): 717–23.Google Scholar
Fujii, Lee Ann. 2016. ‘Politics of the “Field.”’ Perspectives on Politics 14 (4): 1147–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall-Clifford, Rachel. 2019. “Where There Is No Hashtag: Considering Gender-Based Violence in Global Health Fieldwork in the Time of #MeToo.” Health and Human Rights Journal 21 (1): 129–32.Google ScholarPubMed
Hanson, Rebecca, and Richards, Patricia. 2017. “Sexual Harassment and the Construction of Ethnographic Knowledge.” Sociological Forum 32 (3): 587–609.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson, Frances B. 2009. “‘We Thought You Would Be White’: Race and Gender in Fieldwork.” PS: Political Science & Politics 42 (2): 291–94.Google Scholar
Hertel, Shareen, Singer, Matthew M., and Van Cott, Donna Lee. 2009. “Field Research in Developing Countries: Hitting the Road Running.” PS: Political Science & Politics 42 (2): 305–309.Google Scholar
Howell, Nancy. 1990. Surviving Fieldwork: A Report on the Advisory Panel on Health and Safety in Fieldwork. Arlington, VA: American Anthropological Association.Google Scholar
Hsueh, Roselyn, Jensenius, Francesca R., and Newsome, Akasemi. 2014. “Fieldwork in Political Science: Encountering Challenges and Crafting Solutions.” PS: Political Science & Politics 47 (2): 391–93.Google Scholar
Huseby-Darvas, Eva. 1999. “Deconstructing and Reconstructing My Desexualized Identity.” In Sex, Sexuality and the Anthropologist, ed. Markowitz, Fran and Ashkenazi, Michael, 145–61. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, Janet Elise. 2009. “Unwilling Participant Observation among Russian Siloviki and the Good-Enough Field Researcher.” PS: Political Science & Politics 42 (2): 321–25.Google Scholar
Kapiszewski, Diana, MacLean, Lauren M., and Read, Benjamin L.. 2015. Field Research in Political Science: Practices and Principles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LaRocco, Annette A., Shinn, Jamie E., and Madise, Kentse. 2020. “Reflections on Positionalities in Social Science Fieldwork in Northern Botswana.” Politics & Gender 16 (3): 930–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mazzei, Julie, and O’Brien, Erin. 2009. “You’ve Got It, So When Do You Flaunt It? Building Rapport, Intersectionality, and the Strategic Deployment of Gender in the Field.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 38 (3): 358–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moreno, Eva. 1995. “Rape in the Field: Reflections from a Survivor.” In Taboo: Sex, Identity and Erotic Subjectivity in Immersed Anthropological Fieldwork, ed. Kulick, Don and Willson, Margaret, 219–50. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moss, Pamela. 1995. “Embeddedness in Practice, Numbers in Context: The Politics of Knowing and Doing.” Professional Geographer 47 (4): 442–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ortbals, Candice D., and Rincker, Meg E.. 2009. “Negotiating Gender, Race, Class, Religion, Nationality, and Age in the Research Field Abroad.” PS: Political Science & Politics 42 (2): 287–90.Google Scholar
Ortner, Sherry B. 1996. Making Gender: The Politics and Erotics of Culture. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Reinhardt, Gina. 2009. “I Don’t Know Monica Lewinsky, and I’m Not in the CIA. Now How about That Interview?” PS: Political Science & Politics 42 (2): 295–98.Google Scholar
Ross, Karen. 2015. “‘No Sir, She Was Not a Fool in the Field’: Gendered Risks and Sexual Violence in Immersed Cross-Cultural Fieldwork.” The Professional Geographer 67 (2): 180–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwedler, Jillian. 2006. “The Third Gender: Western Female Researchers in the Middle East.” PS: Political Science & Politics 39 (3): 425–28.Google Scholar
Sriram, Chandra, King, John C., Mertus, Julie A., Martin-Ortega, Olga, and Herman, Johanna. 2009. Surviving Field Research: Working in Violent and Difficult Situations. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanko, Elizabeth A. 1992. “Intimidating Education: Sexual Harassment in Criminology.” Journal of Criminal Justice Education 3 (2): 331–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Townsend-Bell, Erica. 2009. “Being True and Being You: Race, Gender, Class, and the Fieldwork Experience.” PS: Political Science & Politics 42 (2): 311–14.Google Scholar
Tripp, Aili Mari. 2018. “Transparency and Integrity in Conducting Field Research on Politics in Challenging Contexts.” Perspectives on Politics 16 (3): 728–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsing, Anna. 2005. Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warren, Carol, and Rasmussen, Paul. 1977. “Sex and Gender in Field Research.” Urban Life 6 (3): 349–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar