Fieldwork in Fragile Borderlands and Conflict Zones: Fluid Positionality and an Ethics of Care

Abstract Research in conflict-affected areas often relies on rigid insider/outsider binaries and assumptions of researcher objectivity. These frameworks fail to capture the fluid, emotionally charged, and politically embedded nature of identity in fieldwork. This article addresses this gap by developing a framework of fluid positionality and ethics of care, grounded in twelve months of ethnographic research in Turkey’s Kurdish borderlands during the 2013–2015 ceasefire. I argue that researcher identity is not static or predetermined but continually shaped through context-specific interactions, social perceptions, and power relations. Rather than treating identity as a fixed attribute—such as ethnicity, nationality, or institutional affiliation—this approach foregrounds its relational and dynamic character. Drawing on feminist, postcolonial, and decolonial traditions, I introduce belonging, vulnerability, and shared knowledge as intermediary concepts that help navigate the ethical, political, and affective complexities of research in contested spaces. Through grounded insights, I show how enduring experiences of violence, state surveillance, and political memory shape not only access and trust but also what can be known, said, and shared. I demonstrate that care—understood as attentiveness, responsiveness, and relational presence—is not merely a moral stance but a methodological imperative. Vulnerability, when embraced with reflexivity, becomes a site of ethical connection rather than a source of risk. By transcending binary thinking, this approach challenges extractive and depoliticized research models, contributing to growing debates in international relations and global studies on epistemic justice, methodological pluralism, and the ethical responsibilities of scholars—particularly those conducting research in their own marginalized or conflict-affected communities.