Anthropology is companion studies: A study of violent relations during fieldwork with my family

Abstract

Companions in the field influence ethnography, thus affecting research position whilst providing research insights. The research of violence takes place within the relations of violence being studied. Family companions who used to live in a field site are entwined in those violent relations. Capacity for violent threat or suffering is connected to the companions of family. Reporting on companions is problematic. Where anonymity is compromised, key information has to be withheld, which in turn leads readers to question integrity. The ethical balance between author, companions and reader reveals more about the relationality of violence. As anthropology turns towards analysing a relational positioning between multifarious companions, the study of family companions expands to consider how intimate companions, of one kind or another, unavoidably shape ethnography. The paper contributes to understanding violence, the research of violence, accompanied fieldwork and methodology in relational anthropological frameworks.