Darkness Unbound. Insights from Ethnographic Research with Nationalist Groups in Contemporary Turkey

Abstract

Drawing on anthropological research conducted with nationalist communities in northeast Turkey, this article reflects on methodological, analytical, and ethical questions arising out of ethnographic engagements with communities that support anti-democratic and authoritarian policies, circulate xenophobic or racist discourses and conspiracy theories, and participate in vigilante violence against minorities and political dissenters. Focusing on how I managed to gain access and establish rapport with my interlocutors despite our different ethico-political ideals and goals, the article aims to underline how the frank acknowledgement of this irreconcilability allows us to get a better grasp of the violent nationalisms we live by and how they can generate new methodological, theoretical and ethical pathways for future research.