Citation

Mertens C. ACME 2019; 18(3): 662-687.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, The author(s), Publisher Centre for Social, Spatial and Economic Justice at the University of British Columbia)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In the last decade the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) figures on the international radar as a place of horrific sexual violence and 'vile barbarity'. Drawing on ethnographic research in eastern DRC, this paper argues that these framings have a contaminating effect on the researcher and the way that knowledge is produced and mediated. What does it mean to do research on violence in the 'rape capital of the world'? It addresses three significant 'fields of power' that emerge when conducting research in a violent setting as a politically and geographically situated researcher. First, the paper argues that a colonial imaginary, which produces racial and sexual hierarchies, informs contemporary representations on sexual violence. Second, it critically examines current knowledge on sexual violence in eastern DRC that, primarily drawing on victims' testimonies, may reinforce harmful framings. Third, the paper shows how I shaped my research in relation to 'toxic' discourses on sexual violence. In doing so, this article reflects on what it means to 'undo' research from a 'violent' space by disrupting received knowledge on sexual violence and critically exploring the researcher's responsibility in representing violence as experienced by others and his/her complicity in perpetuating harmful framings.

Language: en