Working in the Field: If They Let You In:

The Many Challenges Conflict Resolution Professionals Face Practicing or Conduction Research in the Field

The Central Asia, Africa and Latin America Working Groups are looking forward to welcoming you on February 9th! 

This event will explore the ethical challenges of field work as well as three specific kinds of those challenges: corruption/obstruction, data availability/credibility and physical danger. Our goal for this conference is to provide students with a deeper understanding of the issues they will face and also to create greater space for discussion of how professionals can better confront ethical issues in their work. Ample time for discussion has been planned into the schedule. We are hoping for a great exchange of ideas throughout the day that will broaden the discussion within and across departments.

These are issues that confront not only conflict professionals, but anyone in a field that engages with dysfunctional governments. Students, academics and practitioners in fields such as sociology, anthropology and geography as well as political science, public policy and international relations will find this event of interest. We encourage any and all to join us. The more people who come, the greater the discussion will be!

 Presenters:

           Sandra Jones (Arcadia U., Historical/Political Studies) - Doing No Harm? The Ethics of Field Experiences in Conflict Resolution Curriculum

Dr. Agnieszka Paczynska (GMU, S-CAR) - Taking “Do No Harm” Research Ethic Seriously

            Dr. Leslie Dwyer (GMU, S-CAR) - The Politics of Ethics in Conflict Research: Some Thoughts from a Contested Field

            Dr. Jeff Mantz  (GMU, Sociology/Anthropology) - When 'Non-Existent' Data Becomes Quintessential: Lessons from the Eastern Congo and the Caribbean

            Charles Martin-Shields (GMU, S-CAR) - Reliability in Real-Time: Methods, ethics, and solutions for developing crowdsourcing projects in conflict-affected settings

            Samuel Johnson (GMU, S-CAR) - Doing More with Less

            Michael Loadenthal (GMU, S-CAR) - One Man’s Terrorist is another Man’s Cop: Dangerously Evading Grand Juries and Targeted Assassinations

            Joseph Idegwu (Strathclyde U., Geography/Sociology) - Researching Post-Conflict Liberia and Sierra-Leone; The Ethical Issue of Physical Harm to the Researcher

   Bernard Londoni (GMU, S-CAR) - Post-conflict research looking at endogenous methods resolving conflicts in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): Are western models enough?

 Lunch

A light lunch will be provided on site.

Getting Here

The Truland Building is located at 3330 N. Washington Boulevard in Arlington, VA. We urge people to come by metro (the Virginia Square/GMU station on the orange line is less than two blocks away) since parking is limited. GMU has visitor parking on-site. The rates are $3/hour or $14 for the entire day. To access the Founders Hall garage, use the alley behind Founders Hall, turning off either Kirkwood Dr (between Hazel Hall and Truland Building) or Washington Boulevard at the traffic signal between Giant and GMU Foundation Building (come down the hill and go past the GMUF garage and the Original Building loading dock).

For further information, please contact Linda Keuntje at lkeuntje@gmu.edu.