Navigating the safety implications of doing research and being researched in Kyrgyzstan: cooperation, networks and framing

ABSTRACT

Much security-related research conducted in Central Asia appears to disregard the nexus between the data gathered and participants’ and researchers’ experiences of safety during the research. This article explores the interconnectedness of these factors and their effects on the knowledge produced on security. It investigates the legal and institutional context researchers encounter when conducting research in Kyrgyzstan; namely, a state monopoly over knowledge on certain subject matters linked to political stability and security. Furthermore, drawing on the combined fieldwork experience of the authors, the article explores the roles of cooperation, networks and framing in navigating the security implications of doing research. To conclude, we suggest a long-term and collaborative production of knowledge on security in Central Asia to counter the prevailing modes of knowledge production which lean towards epistemically violent and politically provocative topics.

KEYWORDS:

• Researcher safety
• security
• networks
• cooperation
• framing
• Kyrgyzstan

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Edward Lemon for encouraging this contribution and guiding us through the writing process. Further thanks go to the two anonymous reviewers for their thorough and constructive engagement with earlier versions of the manuscript, and to Madeleine Reeves for efficiently moderating our debate. Most important to mention are the interlocutors, partners, supporters and friends who enabled our research in Kyrgyzstan and whose help and favours we hope to reciprocate in our research and actions. This article is based on a blog post titled ‘“Friend” or “Foreign Agent”? On the Limits of Field Research in Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan’, on the Exeter Central Asian Studies Network.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 For a discussion of this issue see the 2015 CESS Taskforce on Fieldwork Safety: https://cess.memberclicks.net/assets/site/cess-task-force-on-fieldwork-safety_final-report-march-2016.pdf.

2 Full text available at http://cbd.minjust.gov.kg/act/view/ru-ru/742. All quotes from Russian-language sources were translated by the authors.

3 Interview with deputy mufti of Kyrgyzstan, who confirmed that the muftiat received numerous letters from foreign researchers asking for approval to do research, all of which were turned down (Bishkek, 26 April 2015).

4 But gathering data and using them for research purposes was not possible without eventually getting permission from a deputy of the Minister for Education of Science (personal conversations, Bishkek, November 2015).

5 Meeting with local NGO representative, Osh, 13 July 2015.

6 Interview with Kyrgyz development consultant, 24 October 2016. We have not tried this option ourselves and think it might be of limited use, given the bureaucratic culture discussed above.

Additional information

Funding

Joshua Meyer's material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under [Grant No. DGE-1746060]. Philipp Lottholz's research was supported by the School of Government and Society Doctoral Bursary and International Development Department Fieldwork Bursary (both University of Birmingham).