Conducting ethnographic research on transitions from war to peace

Abstract

The methodological challenge of linking a deep focus on fine-grained empirical research to the broader cultural and historical meaning of analyses is a central concern for qualitative research on societal transitions. How can insights derived from the “nanoscopic” interpretation of tiny fragments be integrated with the grand questions of social theoretical inquiry without overstretching the analytical bridge? This problem of “graduated” levels of analysis was already articulated by Georg Simmel in his essay „Das Problem der historischen Zeit“, where he examined the Battle of Zorndorf to show how a large, coherent event can be disassembled before it loses its meaning. Simmel’s discussion foregrounds a methodological dilemma that intertwines issues of transition, interaction, and history. The present paper first recapitulates this methodological problem and then asks how historical transitions can be studied qualitatively, which methods, perspectives, and analytical stances are most suitable, and how qualitative inquiry can be connected to questions of societal transformation. Rather than proceeding from theory to data, the study adopts a reverse logic: it investigates how one can move from the fine grained details of fieldwork to the level of “big questions.” The empirical illustration focuses on the still unfinished transition from war to peace in Colombia. After more than fifty years of civil conflict, the war was formally concluded in 2016 with the explicit aim of establishing a peace process and initiating a “normalization” of social relations. Drawing on extensive field research, videographic material, semi structured interviews, and document analysis, the article examines (1) the depth of detail required to capture the dynamics of such a transition and (2) the historical and regional knowledge necessary to conduct meaningful qualitative research within this framework. By foregrounding the tension between micro level empirical richness and macro level theoretical ambition, the paper contributes to ongoing debates in qualitative sociology and anthropology about the appropriate ways to study large scale social transformations.