Bermuda triangulation: embracing the messiness of researching in conflict

ABSTRACT

In conflict-affected states, poor transportation infrastructure and risk-averse security protocols can significantly constrain researchers’ ability to access information. Pressure on academics to be methodologically rigorous and produce policy-relevant research means that the problematic nature of the data we use is often obscured and ignored in research outputs. Through an autoethnography of research in the DRC, this article critically discusses the messiness of triangulating information in the field amidst the competing knowledge claims of different actors on the ground. Nonetheless, it argues that information which is messy and difficult to triangulate can itself be a valuable source of conflict knowledge. This knowledge emerges from what is here termed ‘Bermuda Triangulation’—whereby the verification of one piece of information leads to the uncovering of multiple views, which may themselves tell us much about the drivers of conflict.

KEYWORDS:

• Autoethnography
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• knowledge
• research methodology

Acknowledgements

I am extremely grateful to the Developmental Leadership Programme, which funded this project research and my fieldwork. I am also grateful to the British Academy, which provided me with a Small Research Grant to host a crowdsourcing platform to remotely gather additional data from difficult-to-reach areas of the eastern DRC. I would also like to thank Berit Bliesemann de Guevara, Roland Kostic´ and Nicolas Lemay-Hébert, as well as two anonymous reviewers, who provided me with valuable feedback on previous drafts of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Note on the contributor

Suda Perera is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Developmental Leadership Programme, University of Birmingham. She holds a BA (Hons) Politics from Durham University, an MA in Post-War Recovery Studies from the University of York, and a PhD in International Conflict Analysis from the University of Kent. Her research examines the dynamics of conflict and governance in the eastern DRC, especially in relation to armed non-state actors. She is also interested in hidden narratives of conflict, knowledge production in conflict-affected states, and the manner in which international actors engage in conflict-affected states.

Notes

1. The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) currently has an approved budget of almost US$1.5 billion for 2015–16, and 22,492 uniformed and civilian personnel currently deployed, making it also one of the organization’s most expensive and extensive peacekeeping missions to date.

2. The DRC received US$2.6 billion per year in aid from OECD donors between 2012 and 2014 (OECD 2016), and foreign donors have contributed more than half of the Congolese national budget between 2003 and 2010 (Autesserre 2010, iv).

3. The fieldwork took place in North and South Kivu between August and November 2014. I am extremely grateful to my two research associates, Victor Anas and Josaphat Musamba, who assisted with the arrangement of interviews, interpretation of responses, logistical support during this fieldwork, and continued to assist me with the collection of data after I returned from the field.

4. Interview with MONUSCO worker, Goma, 25 August 2014.

5. Stabilization Unit meeting, London, 5 November 2014.

6. Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda—an armed group led by, and mainly comprising of, Rwandan Hutus who fled Rwanda in the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. They have been operating in various forms in the eastern DRC since.

7. Alliance de patriotes pour un Congo libre et souverain—a Congolese armed group led by a defector from the Congolese army, General Janvier Karayiri. Many of its members are from the Hunde ethnic group. At the time of the event being described in this interview the ACPLS and the FDLR were working in a loose alliance.

8. Coopérative minière de Mpama Bisie.

9. As a result, the distinction between Congolese and Rwandan is often blurred, being between Congolese and Rwandaphone—speakers of Kinyarwanda who include Congolese Hutu and Tutsi.

10. Interview with Andy, an expatriate former NGO worker, Birmingham, 1 July 2014.

11. Ibid.

12. Interview with Ben, an expatriate UN worker, Goma, 27 August 2014.

13. Ibid.

14. Rather than focusing on societal factors which cause conflict, those who take a brute causes approach to analysis ‘highlight the more immediate motivations for members of the political elite to use organized violence’ (de Waal 2014, 350).

15. see Jason Russell speaking on the Kony 2012 video: http://invisiblechildren.com/kony-2012.

16. Mouvement du 23-Mars, a Congolese rebel group, made up mainly of former members of the Congrès national pour la défense du peuple (CNDP), who had defected from the Congolese army. It was believed that the group had support from the Rwandan government.

17. Interview with Claude, a Congolese NGO worker, Goma, 5 September 2014.

18. Interview with Didier, a Congolese businessman from Bisie, Walikale; Goma, 31 August 2014.

19. Interview with Etienne, a Congolese journalist, Goma, 6 September 2014.

20. Ibid.

21. Ibid.

22. Robben uses the term to describe the process of being led astray by research subjects whose personal qualities might affect your critical sensibilities. Robben chooses ‘the word seduction to describe those personal defences and social strategies … Seduction is used here exclusively in its neutral meaning of being led away unawares, not in the popular meaning of allurement and entrapment’ (Robben 1995, 83).

23. War Child, ‘Rape and Sexual Violence in the DR Congo.’ Accessed 20 April 2015, from: http://www.warchild.org.uk/issues/sexual-violence-in-congo.

24. The road network in the eastern DRC is notoriously poor and neglected, even short journeys can take hours, as rain on the dirt tracks can cause the roads to wash away and vehicles to get stuck. In many areas even dirt track roads do not exist, and travel is only possible by foot or motorbike.

25. Interview with George, an expatriate NGO worker, Goma, 13 September 2014.

26. Ibid.

27. Interview with Irene, expatriate academic, London and Uvira (via Skype), 11 July 2014.

28. Interview with Jacques, Congolese researcher, Bukavu, DRC, 26 September 2014.

29. Ibid.

30. Ibid.

31. Ibid.

32. Interview with Didier, a Congolese businessman from Bisie, Walikale; Goma, 31 August 2014.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Developmental Leadership Programme and the British Academy.