Emotional labour in gender-based violence research: An auto-ethnographic account

• In Event: Researcher Wellbeing and Emotionally Challenging Topics

Abstract

Criminological research is undeniably an emotional endeavour. It requires a great deal of emotional labour, from the conceptualisation of the research to its implementation and dissemination. Throughout the research process, researchers are confronted with a wide range of feelings towards their work, their identity and researchers, and their participants, many of which are difficult and at times unexpected. Acknowledging and adequately managing these emotions, within and outside the fieldwork experience, is crucial to ensure researcher wellbeing. Drawing on my experience as a PhD student conducting research with women who have been victimised by their intimate partners, I reflect on the different context in which I engaged with my emotions and those of my participants, and the many different ways I perhaps failed to do so. Engaging in this reflexive exercise, I identify some of the key support needs and strategies which I believe are central to ensuring researcher’s emotional wellbeing particularly in their early experiences of fieldwork.

Author

• Joana Miguel Gomes Ferreira, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge