Interviews as catastrophic encounters: loss and loneliness in IR research

Main author: Gallagher, Julia
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-26058
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
topic JZ International relations
description The article uses psychoanalytic object relations theory to construct a way to understand why interviews in IR research – viewed here as encounters between strangers – can be felt as 'catastrophic'. The theory supports critical theoretical approaches that suggest that the world is structured through self-other relations, and argues that encounters with 'others' are unsettling because they can undermine the ways we constitute ourselves in relation to the wider world. Yet such challenges are inevitable if research is to challenge existing object constructions and the power relations that attend them. The article illustrates this argument with a detailed discussion of research interviews conducted in Zimbabwe.
format Journal Article
author Gallagher, Julia
author_facet Gallagher, Julia
authorStr Gallagher, Julia
author_letter Gallagher, Julia
title Interviews as catastrophic encounters: loss and loneliness in IR research
publisher Oxford University Press
publishDate 2016
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/26058/