Unraveling the Mobilization of Memory in Research With Refugees

In this article, we explore how narrative accounts of trauma are co-constructed through the interaction between researcher and participant. Using a narrative multiple-case study with Kurdish refugee families, we address how this process takes place, investigating how researcher and participants were...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Qualitative health research 2018-03, Vol.28 (4), p.659-672
Main Authors: Kevers, Ruth, Rober, Peter, De Haene, Lucia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Kurdish people
Medical ethics
Memory
Mobilization
Morality
Narratives
Qualitative research
Refugees
Researchers
Survivor
Trauma
Violence
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Summary:In this article, we explore how narrative accounts of trauma are co-constructed through the interaction between researcher and participant. Using a narrative multiple-case study with Kurdish refugee families, we address how this process takes place, investigating how researcher and participants were engaged in relational, moral, collective, and sociopolitical dimensions of remembering, and how this led to the emergence of particular ethical questions. Case examples indicate that acknowledging the multilayered co-construction of remembering in the research relationship profoundly complicates existing deontological guidelines that predominantly emphasize the researcher’s responsibility in sensitively dealing with participants’ alleged autobiographical trauma narratives. Instead, our analysis invites qualitative researchers to engage in a continued, context-specific ethical reflection on the potential risks and benefits that are invoked in studies with survivors of collective violence.
ISSN:1049-7323
1552-7557
DOI:10.1177/1049732317746963