Methods and Ethics in Transitional Justice Research

Abstract

Doing research on transitional justice in societies experiencing and emerging from conflicts has become increasingly popular among academics. Academic interest in this area is paralleled, but also fuelled by, the proliferation of transitional justice in peacebuilding practice and the increasing emphasis in international, policy making and funding arenas which tend to focus on criminal accountability. Yet, academic research on transitional justice in conflict societies is far from being innocuous and may have detrimental impacts on the societies we research with. Transitional justice research typically involves major epistemological, ethical and methodological challenges. Often in transitional justice research, concepts, values and priorities internalised and experienced in the West are projected into the studied conflict societies and used to diagnose, dissect, and propose ‘solutions’ for their problems. The focus of transitional justice research often involves desperate victims/survivors and vulnerable groups and the methods in which such research is conducted are at times damaging to our participants. The impact of transitional justice research on the societies we research with in terms of representation and policies is also significant. All of these posit reflections on whether the benefits of transitional justice research outweigh its impact and damage. This roundtable aims to discuss the challenges of conducting research on transitional justice in conflict and post-conflict societies. It will critically examine research methodologies and ethical challenges of conducting research on transitional justice in the developing world.

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