Danger on my mind: Dangerous imaginaries and their effect on epistemologies

Abstract

The article examines how and why dangerous imaginaries are constructed, how researchers’ positionalities are implicated in this process, and how this, in turn, impacts epistemologies of “dangerous fields”. If danger is the possibility of harm happening to the researcher, who defines the realm of possibility, how, and why? Drawing on her experiences researching jihad in Mali, the author demonstrates how diverse actors —such as media, diplomats, governments, NGOs, academic institutions, and researchers— co-construct dangerous imaginaries, ostensibly to mitigate risk but ultimately inflicting epistemic violence. Concern for researchers’ safety leads “outsider” researchers to reproduce hegemonic dangerous imaginaries. Reflexively engaging with her own positionality as a white, female, “outsider” ethnographer in a “dangerous field”, the author highlights how perceptions of danger shape knowledge production. This paper calls for more diverse epistemologies, greater awareness of the power dynamics at play, and transparency about researchers’ imaginaries, which influence knowledge production in “dangerous fields”.