Stories from the Field

We welcome Ravi Perry from Howard University and Sarah Zukerman Daly from Columbia University to talk about the crucial but oft-overlooked issues of health and safety in the field—whether in one's home community or in a foreign location. Ravi and Sarah share some of the personal challenges they've faced in the course of their fascinating research on the balancing act of racial politics by Black mayors in majority white districts in the U.S., and the variation in the demilitarization of violent organizations following peace negotiations in Colombia, respectively. Throughout the episode, we discuss a variety of steps that researchers should take to protect themselves and those around them.
Producers: Harper Barbaree, John Gehman, Gabriel Wallen
Editors: Sam Biasi, Shavonne Farell, Alyssa Iferenta, Madison Sarka

We talk to Enze Han from the University of Hong Kong and Robert Ross from Boston College about the significant potential and challenges of doing research in China. Our guests reflect on everything from their experiences building academic relationships with colleagues at Chinese universities to how local perceptions of researchers' own identities can shape the research process.
Producers: Harper Barbaree, John Gehman, Alyssa Iferenta
Editors: Sam Biasi, Madison Sarka, Shavonne Farrell

We welcome Matthew Cancian from MIT, Kristin Fabbe from Harvard Business School, and Kristin Michelitch from Vanderbilt University to talk about conducting field surveys and experiments. We discuss what goes into designing an experiment or survey, developing local relationships, and navigating the ethical and logistical challenges of conducting complex research projects with multi-member research teams.
Producers: Harper Barbaree, John Gehman, Alyssa Iferenta
Editors: Zeyad Anwar, Sam Biasi, Shavonne Farrell, Abigail Hamilton, Garrett Madden, Madison Sarka

Once you're in "the field," how can you most effectively gain knowledge and collect information? How do you build trust and connections with local leaders? How to show respect and become part of a new community? How to access and decipher classified archival documents? We welcome John McCauley from The University of Maryland, Rich Nielsen from MIT, and Lindsey O'Rourke from Boston College to discuss the creative strategies they used to navigate each of these research challenges in Central and West Africa, the Middle East, and the United States.
Producers: Harper Barbaree, John Gehman
Editor: John Gehman

How do our identities and lives outside of academia shape our fieldwork? And what does that look like in a region like the Middle East? We talk to Carla Abdo-Katsipis from Wesleyan University, Nadya Hajj from Wellesley College, and Ian Lustick from the University of Pennsylvania about doing research across the Middle East, and reflect on how our personal backgrounds shape the experience of doing field research.
Producers: Harper Barbaree, John Gehman, Alyssa Iferenta
Editors: Sam Biasi, Shavonne Farrell, Madison Sarka