Bearing Witness to Suffering – A Reflection on the Personal Impact of Conducting Research with Children and Grandchildren of Victims of Apartheid-era Gross Human Rights Violations in South Africa

ABSTRACT

Social scientists who conduct qualitative research frequently use emotional engagement to gather information about participants’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviours in relation to a particularly research question. When the subject under investigation is related to trauma, listening to, or being exposed to personal accounts of participants’ traumatic experiences can carry a significant emotional cost for researchers. This may place them at risk of secondary trauma. In this article, I examine these issues from the context of my doctoral field research in South Africa, which focused on intergenerational trauma amongst descendants of victims of apartheid-era gross human rights violations. I reflect on my positionality as both an insider and outsider and feelings of guilt that emanated from my sense of being privileged and an imposter. I also reflect on the emotional turmoil brought about by my engagement with the trauma of participants and their families. I conclude by sharing the lessons I have learnt, and that have enabled me to sustain my scholarly engagement with intergenerational trauma. Ultimately, this article gives insight into, and raises awareness about, the emotional consequences of conducting trauma research. It offers practical suggestions to help researchers navigate the emotional minefield involved in conducting trauma research.

KEYWORDS:

• Secondary trauma
• gross human rights violations
• post-apartheid South Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act 34 of 1995, (henceforth the TRC Act), which made provision for the establishment of the TRC, defined gross human rights violations as: (a) killings, abductions, torture, severe ill treatment of any person; or (b) any attempt, conspiracy, incitement, instigation, command, or procurement to commit an act referred to in (a) (Truth and Reconciliation Commission 1998).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cyril K. Adonis

Cyril K. Adonis is currently employed as a Research Specialist at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). Registered as a Research Psychologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HSRC), he obtained his Master’s Degree from Rhodes University in 1999. Subsequently he was a Fulbright Scholar at Nova Southeastern University in the United States where he graduated with a PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution in 2011. He has written and published extensively on the subject of intergenerational trauma. His articles have appeared in, amongst others, the International Review of Victimology (2017); the Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology (2016); the Journal of Psychology in Africa (2015), and South African Journal of Psychology (2014). In addition to this, he has presented papers at numerous local and international conferences.