The (im)possibilities of field research
Of course I am able to conduct such research, even though I have not been as often in the field as I would have liked given financial and time constraints. I am not a trained anthropologist in the strict sense or a field researcher in the broader sense, but I am familiar with the literature and those methods and findings most relevant to my own research. I have conducted some relatively short field trips, and conducted interviews, in the distant and more recent past (e.g. in Kosovo in 2016 and Albania in 2017).
Naturally, I want to do field research much more often, but that partially depends on how often and how much funding I receive to do this kind of research – and on the situations in both my home country the Netherlands and the host countries in question (think of the current COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and how this restricts travel across and even within borders).
I must emphasise here, however, that to date most of my research has not required extensive field research as such, and that I have not tried or needed to secure funding for such research all that often. Naturally, that may change – depending on the research project and its requirements.
Case-studies on violent conflict, like the ones in Ukraine or Syria
Some particular cases are mentioned or discussed in some of my freely available publications and reports on this website already. Still, a full-fledging case study on a recent or ongoing conflict like the one in the Ukraine or Syria would be a good idea.
I have been doing observations on conflict cases in recent, current and forthcoming publications already, but usually these are in the context of multi-case, comparative analyses. Even so, I will make analyses on recent or current hotspots in the world freely available on the site in the near, foreseeable future.