One important aspect of her ethnography is dealing with the portrayal of
the Palestine Territories as a dangerous and hostile place and the feeling of
fear that this representation evokes. The daily experience of fieldwork in
Palestine has countered this fearful image which is created by different
groups such as academic colleagues, representative of foreign affairs, and
Israeli citizens. In this challenging paper the author not only focuses on the
social constructions of fear and danger, but she also shows how she gained
access to marginal social groups and how she manages the risky environ-
ment in which she did her fieldwork. An essential issue she discusses is the
relation between herself and those she studies. When we “gain data” from
people that are marginalized, scrutinized, and confronted with state-
violence, should we give something in return? And how do we cope with
the suffering of those we meet in the field? Leuenberger shows that we
should be workingwith, rather thanoncommunities. She advocates con-
ducting participatory and collaborative research. This will not help us with
gaining access and create a richer understanding of marginalized groups,
but also generates knowledge that can be used for beneficial social changes
for these groups. Again we see that a conscious choice of and reflection on
methods are crucial in how we relate to those we study and our understand-
ing of them.
In the third paper “An Observation Situation: When the Researcher’s
Scenes Interact” of De Man, we return to Europe and enter Brussels.
Just as in the previous two papers De Man reflects on her relation with
those she studies. Her paper is based on material from an ethnography
on police officers and youth. In her contribution she describes how her
ethnography was a learning-by-doing process and that dealing with
“unanticipated” emotions became an essential aspect of her ethnographic
education. In this paper she focuses on her confrontations with her emo-
tions which are related to (a) losing her confidence in the ideal of the dis-
tant observer and (b) her daily social life as a young mixed-race woman
in her thirties.
First she reflects on her emotions in relation to police interventions. She
observes what happens and tries to stay not involved. She prefers to remain
an outsider while the police does their work. But in one instance she cannot
resist becoming an active participant. This triggers a wide range of metho-
dological questions which are addressed in this paper. De Man’s contribu-
tion to this volume differs forms the first two in an original way, because
she integrates others domains (“scenes”), such as the home front: being
part of a mixed community in Brussels means that she is confronted
with negative images of how ethnic youth is being policed in public space.
Volume Editor’s Introduction xiii