Learning not to ask. Methodological implications in a research among Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia

Th is article is based on ethnographic fi eldwork carried out with Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia and analyses how the practices of surveillance, suspicion and mistrust hindering the research foster a critical refl ection on methodology. Th e investigation was characterised by multiple levels of silence, lies and mistrust that became key aspects in both comprehending the past experiences, daily lives and imagined futures of the research participants and analysing the relationship between topics of research and methodology. Mistrust and suspicion are not merely defensive tools against outsiders; they also emerged inside the community, because of insoluble uncertainty about the relationship of everyone with the Eritrean diasporic state. Th e article shows that silence and mistrust cannot be reduced to the eff ects of governmental institutions, even when they are highly repressive and pervasive. Rather, they are part of historically rooted social and cultural frames that aff ect everyday life and intergenerational transmission: they are embedded in unrefl ective behaviour such as habitus, and they are at the core of refl ective practices through which social boundaries and feelings of intimacy are drawn. Th e intent is to overcome the Western logocentric model of communication and to show silence not as an interruption in conversation. From a methodological point of view, the essay tries to rethink silence and mistrust in the ethnographic encounter, considering them as essential parts of the analysis.