Commentary Hidden Injuries of Research on Social Suffering Among Drug Users

Ethnographic research with impoverished, often homeless, street drug users commonly involves the direct and indirect witnessing of various kinds of violence. Numerous methodological and ethical challenges related to the witnessing of violence have been explored in the ethnographic literature on drug use. In addition, drug-use researchers like Bourgois and Inciardi have written, at least tangentially, about the myriad emotions that come into play when especially egregious forms of interpersonal violence, such as rape, forced prostitution or gang initiations, are described by perpetrators or victims. Apart from experiencing a range of emotions, other researchers have made note of emotional difficulties experienced by researchers studying violence. For example, Dunn described the physical and emotional problems she experienced after interviewing women who had been battered. Alexander and colleagues reported parallel reactions in rape victims and rape researchers. In this paper, we draw upon our own experience as ethnographers in order to raise concerns about the emotional risks of witnessing accounts of past and current violence in the lives of street drug users who are participants in our research projects.