Abstract
I conducted research in Timor-Leste on the effectiveness of international peacebuilding and development interventions that took place between 1999 and 2013. I wanted to use research approaches that avoided perpetuating structural or cultural violence and explicitly strengthened local capacities for peace. I used an ethnographic research approach that connects peacebuilding and Indigenous rights. In this chapter, I identify four elements that are key to this ethnographic research approach: reflexivity, sampling and interviewing processes grounded in Indigenous participation, use of systems theory and abductive analysis to analyse qualitative data and finally, the importance of seeking free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) from all participants. With these elements, an ethnographic approach can provide the researcher with tools to research peace more peacefully in and with Indigenous communities.
The author wishes to thank Dr Gearoid Millar and Dr Janet Hunt for their helpful comments on this chapter.
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- 1.
My system of referencing interviews maintains anonymity as each participant is coded. For example, U-1800-031010 indicates a participant whose interview took place at 18:00 hours on 3 October 2010.
- 2.
The Advanced Consortium on Cooperation Conflict and Complexity (AC4), the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia University, the Institute of World Affairs at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University are participating in the Innovation Lab on Dynamical Systems Theory, Peace and Conflict . See: http://conflictinnovationlab.org
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Close, S. (2018). Researching Peace Peacefully: Using Ethnographic Approaches in 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_9
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