The Politics and Ethics of Fieldwork in Post-conflict Environments: The Dilemmas of a Vocational Approach

On 16 June 2014, Alexander Sodiqov was arrested by the security services while conducting fieldwork in Khorog, Tajikistan. He was interviewing an opposition leader who had been involved in a protest movement at the time he was arrested. Alex was subsequently charged with espionage offences and detained in a high security prison by the State Committee on National Security (SCNS) of the Republic of Tajikistan, a country which has seen intermittent political violence since the formal end of its civil war in 1997. At the time he was a PhD student at the University of Toronto and working with us on an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) project based at the University of Exeter studying conflict management in Central Asia. Having been charged under article 305 of the criminal code, he faced the likely prospect of a prison sentence of up to 20 years on his conviction. A global campaign was launched and, on 23 July, Alex was freed on bail but remained under investigation. On 10 September, he was allowed to leave the country and arrived back in Canada, where he still resides. While Alex was freed, the investigation was not formally discontinued; the repercussions of the case for his family and friends have continued and the chilling effect on academic research in particular and civil society in Tajikistan in general are still apparent. The case proved to be a turning point in the relationship between local academic community and authorities. It was consistent with increasing authoritarianism in Tajikistan, which was apparent long before 2014, and from which, as Alex's case proved, academics are not insulated. However, after 2014 this repression apparently assumed a more organized and structural character. The international controversy and wider criticism caused by Alex's arrest appeared to change the state's attitude and policy towards the Tajik academic sector. As a result, the authorities have introduced a set of new restrictions on academic activities and structures in Tajikistan. For instance, field trips and research on the ground (such as opinion polls, interviews), have become the subject of severe control and excessive scrutiny. The government has considerably tightened and lengthened the process of approval and agreeing on conducting academic research. The investigation continued for several years— and may still be officially open. Alex was never formally acquitted and the security agency never admitted the illegality of his detention.

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