Abstract
This chapter explores the ways reflexive practice guided two anthropologists through methodological and ethical concerns. In their research, Sakti and Reynaud both examined the ways societies deal with legacies of violence, albeit on different sides of the globe—Sakti in Timor-Leste and Indonesia, where she explored social repair among a conflict-divided community, and Reynaud in Quebec, where she explored experiences of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement alongside Algonquin survivors. As this chapter illustrates, their understanding of reconciliation as ongoing trust building or rebuilding (Govier and Verwoerd 2002) transpires not only in the way they conducted their studies, but also in how they considered issues of positionality and ethics. They argue that putting into practice their understanding of reconciliation was key to making their fieldwork ‘successful’.
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Notes
- 1.
We thank Gearoid Millar for his comments on an earlier draft that made this point clearer.
- 2.
C.A. Davies in her book on reflexive ethnography warns of the danger of self-absorption in which the researcher falls into an inward spiral of self-reflexive iterations. Such an approach obscures the analytical gaze and is ultimately unproductive. We do not advocate this kind of ‘navel-gazing’ practice. Although an important point, a more elaborate discussion is beyond the scope of this chapter (see C.A. Davies 1999; and for a critique see Salzman 2002; also see Slooter for a discussion on different degrees of reflexivity , this volume).
- 3.
Over time, 139 schools existed across Canada. For more on residential schools see Miller 1996, Grant 1996, Chrisjohn, Young & Maraun 1997, Haig-Brown 1988, Milloy 1999, Tremblay 2008, Reimer et al. 2010, Ottawa 2010, and the TRC report 2015.
- 4.
The Algonquins of Barriere Lake call themselves the Mitchikanibikok Inik (People of the Stone Weir). They live mostly at the Rapid Lake reserve (also called Kitiganik) and in the bush in the Outaouais region of Quebec . The last census counted 712 people on the band list (AANDC 2012), and they are one of ten Algonquin First Nations communities .
- 5.
Taking this into consideration, my research was granted a retroactive certificate of ethics delivered on 17.06.2013 by the “Comité d’Éthique de la Recherche de la Faculté des Arts et des Sciences” (CERFAS) of the Université de Montreal.
- 6.
Official histories documented the deaths of between 102,800 and 183,000 civilians due to conflict-related causes (such as direct killings, but mostly from illnesses and starvation) (CAVR 2005). In the effort to confront this painful past, the CAVR and SCP were set up to work alongside one another. The mandate of the former was to establish the ‘truth’ about past violations, and promote the reintegration of local perpetrators of ‘less-serious’ crimes (such as arson, theft and assault) back into their communities . The latter was mandated to investigate ‘serious crimes’ (such as murder, rape and torture) that occurred during the extremely violent end of the Indonesian occupation in 1999, after the announcement of the ballot result.
- 7.
For a detailed account of the ‘Passabe massacre ’, see Robinson 2003: 234–236.
- 8.
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Sakti, V.K., Reynaud, AM. (2018). Understanding Reconciliation Through Reflexive Practice: Ethnographic Examples from Canada and Timor-Leste. In: Millar, G. (eds) Ethnographic Peace Research. Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65563-5_8
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