“Inside I Am Crying, Outside I Am Smiling”: Vicarious Trauma Among Emerging Violence Prevention Researchers in South Africa

The existing literature on vicarious trauma primarily focuses on clinical and counseling psychologists, social workers, and first-responders in the Global North, with limited research conducted on researchers and academics, particularly within the South African context. Considering the prevalence of crime, violence, and trauma-based research in South Africa, it is crucial to examine the emotional well-being of researchers in this field. Our article addresses this gap by analyzing personal experiences and reflections of emerging scholars through a collective autoethnography. We draw from personal journals and reflective narratives to shed light on the challenging circumstances researchers face and how vicarious trauma can contribute to personal growth and development. Our findings highlight themes such as fear, hypervigilance, distrust, anger, helplessness, as well as positive experiences like involvement, social support, and community building. We make recommendations which aim to address how violence research is conceptualized and operationalized, and we provide suggestions to address these challenges at an individual, institutional, and systemic level.