Researching “Resilience”: Reflections from the field, past and present

In this discussion, Sabrina Ahmed and William McGowan look forwards and backwards, respectively, at two research projects focused on the knotty, contested, and ubiquitous concept of “resilience”. While McGowan’s research into survivors of political violence and terrorism has come to an end, Ahmed’s empirical work looking at the impacts of security and counter-terrorism policies on the refugee community in Bangladesh is still in motion. In this discussion, the two researchers reflect on how they both grapple with this idea of resilience as researchers, at the beginning and ends of their respective research journeys, including the ways they approach their fieldwork. Touching on a variety of topics, from vernacular understandings of security, to bringing differing degrees of professional experience to bear on their current understandings of resilience, the piece is written as a back-and-forth dialogic engagement with the subject, making for a lively and readable contribution. Although focusing on resilience specifically, the piece will be of interest to anyone thinking through questions of epistemology, methodology, and method from a variety of disciplines more broadly.