Afterword: seduction and empathy in research on war ecologies

Abstract

The concept ethnographic seduction referred originally to the conscious and unconscious ways in which interviewees lead fieldworkers away from their research objectives by having them accept their discourse as a truthful interpretation of the reality under study. Seduction disengages researchers from the dialectic of empathy and reflective detachment that enables ethnographic understanding. The editors and authors of this special issue argue that paradigms, classifications, texts, mass media, and biomedical and technological models can also be seductive. They demonstrate that this seduction can be overcome by restoring the dialectic of detachment and empathy by situating themselves affectively and cognitively in people, animals, and natural environments.