Introduction Part 1: Gender and Societal Expectations Izabela Steflja: Chapter 1: "But Where Is Your Grandmother Really From?"Negotiating Ethnicity, Gender, and Belonging After War (Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia) Hiba Zerrougui: Chapter 2: Discomfort in the Field: Navigating Family Politics, the Streets, and the State in Algeria (Algeria) Syed Shah and Farooq Yousaf: Chapter 3: Doing Research on the "Margins": Fieldwork as a Pashtun in Pakistan (Pakistan) Mona Bhan: Chapter 4: Suspicion, Surveillance, and Survival in Kashmir (Indian-controlled Kashmir) Kira Jumet and Merouan Mekouar: Chapter 5: Gender and Societal Expectations: A Provisional Guide Part 2: Race, Ethnicity, and Belonging Tewodros Asfaw: Chapter 6: Ethnicity as a Liability: Fieldwork as a Mixed Ethnic Researcher in Ethiopia (Ethiopia) Guilherme Marcondes: Chapter 7: "Racial Democracy" as a Fallacy: Art, Research, and Identity in Brazil (Brazil) Musa Ibrahim: Chapter 8: "Come Back as a Piece, not Pieces": Risks, Experiences, and Practices of Researching "Sensitive" Topics in One's Home Country - A Note from Northern Nigeria (Nigeria) Boris Xavier Martin Quijano: Chapter 9: Guardians of the Archives: The Bishop and the Bureaucrat in Socialist Cuba (Cuba) Kira Jumet and Merouan Mekouar: Chapter 10: Race, Ethnicity, and Belonging: A Provisional Guide Part 3: Legal Threats and Red Lines Cuong Nguyen: Chapter 11: Lacan in Vietnam: Managing Anxiety and Minimizing Surveillance (Vietnam) Taqadum Al-Khatib: Chapter 12: Nowhere to Hide: An Egyptian Researcher, Between Forced Exile and Arrest (Egypt) Dilafruz Nazarova and Shahnoza Nozimova: Chapter 13: Walking a Fine Line: Institutional Ambiguities and Ethical Dilemmas in Tajikistan (Tajikistan) María José Díaz Reyes: Chapter 14: What Does One Do with the Nightmares? Are They Ethnographic Data or Material for a Psychoanalyst? (Nicaragua) Kira Jumet and Merouan Mekouar: Chapter 15: Legal Threats and Red Lines: A Provisional Guide Part 4: Exploitation Shirin Saeidi: Chapter 16: Impossible Return? Vulnerability for Iranian Dual-National Researchers in the Field (Iran) Jose Miguel González Perez: Chapter 17: Questionable Solicitations and Regime Restrictions: Protecting Family, Colleagues, and Oneself while Researching in Nicaragua (Nicaragua) Omer Ozcan: Chapter 18: Navigating Dangerous Fields: Storytelling, W aiting, and Ethnography without Fieldnotes (Turkey) Kira Jumet and Merouan Mekouar: Chapter 19: Exploitation: A Provisional Guide Conclusion Bibliography

"This book contains a rich collection of essays about the challenges, both analytical and physical, of doing ethnographic and historical research as a national in repressive countries. There is great benefit to be gleaned from the wide range of countries covered, the comparative questions raised and the advice for researchers that is proffered by the authors and editors. This work represents an important contribution to the field and offers a set of perspectives that are rarely presented." -- Bernard Haykel, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University "This volume helps fill a void in research on threats to scholars conducting fieldwork in their countries of origin and provides much-needed practical guidance in navigating those threats within a variety of contexts. By highlighting native scholars' challenging fieldwork experiences, this set of research raises awareness about the wide-ranging threats to scholars and their families, while concurrently striving to help anyone seeking advice on safe fieldwork practices." -- Clare Farne Robinson, Scholars at Risk "This volume is a tour de force! Kira Jumet and Merouan Mekouar have assembled a remarkable set of chapters from around the world reflecting on the ethics and politics of fieldwork research in repressive contexts. With an impressive regional breadth, and a compelling range of thematic foci, this book will resonate deeply with emerging and established scholars alike. I was deeply moved by the generosity of individual contributors in sharing their experiences of vulnerability and resilience--as well as the roadmap that their insights collectively provide for scholars committed to decolonizing knowledge production. I cannot recommend this volume highly enough!" -- Sa'ed Atshan, Chair of Peace and Conflict Studies, Swarthmore College "This book contains a rich collection of essays about the challenges, both analytical and physical, of doing ethnographic and historical research as a national in repressive countries. There is great benefit to be gleaned from the wide range of countries covered, the comparative questions raised and the advice for researchers that is proffered by the authors and editors. This work represents an important contribution to the field and offers a set of perspectives that are rarely presented." -- Bernard Haykel, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University "This volume helps fill a void in research on threats to scholars conducting fieldwork in their countries of origin and provides much-needed practical guidance in navigating those threats within a variety of contexts. By highlighting native scholars' challenging fieldwork experiences, this set of research raises awareness about the wide-ranging threats to scholars and their families, while concurrently striving to help anyone seeking advice on safe fieldwork practices." -- Clare Farne Robinson, Scholars at Risk

Kira D. Jumet is Associate Professor of Government and Director of the Middle East/Islamicate Worlds Studies Program at Hamilton College. Her research focuses on social movements, authoritarianism, and national identity in the Middle East and North Africa. With an academic backround in Political Science and Middle East Studies, Jumet takes an interdisciplinary approach to her scholarship. She is the author of Contesting the Repressive State: Why Ordinary Egyptians Protested During the Arab Spring (2018) and has also published on violent Islamism and repression in Egypt. Jumet has conducted fieldwork in Morocco for her current work on nation-building in the country. Merouan Mekouar is Associate Professor of Social Science at York University and specializes in norm diffusion, social movements, and authoritarian practices in North Africa and the Middle East. Originally trained in political science, Mekouar draws upon a wide range of disciplines--including comparative politics, international relations, political sociology, development studies, and behavioral economics--to examine diverse political phenomena ranging from the emergence and adoption of new authoritarian practices and means of contention to regime learning and stress contamination in security organizations. In recent years, he has expanded his scholarship to include critical fieldwork methodologies in illiberal and authoritarian countries.

Selling point: Focuses on the challenges particular to researchers conducting fieldwork in their native repressive and/or illiberal home countries Selling point: Offers practical advice on how to navigate obstacles, including safety and mental/emotional health challenges, faced by academics conducting research in their native repressive and/or illiberal states Selling point: Presents narratives from 19 scholars, representing 15 countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, South America, Central Asia and South Asia, who conducted fieldwork in their native repressive and/or illiberal countries