ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the ethical and political dilemmas encountered in the field while conducting a multi-sited ethnography on the effects of politically motivated violence on the communities in and from the former Yugoslavia. Much of the fieldwork discussed here relates to the author's research among the survivors of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina and their compatriots, Bosnian refugees and migrants, in diaspora. The chapter also describes the author's experiences in the ethnically divided Albanian and Serbian communities in Kosovo. It shares some of the experiences, challenges and discontents relating to the fluid role of an insider/outsider conducting research with co-ethnics and compatriots. Much of the author's research over the last decade has revolved around the Bosnian refugee diaspora groups in Australia, Europe and the United States. One of the conclusions that could be drawn from this discussion is that researchers' emic/etic position is rarely fixed and stable.