Researching Sensitive Topics in Sensitive Zones: Exploring Silences, “The Normal,” and Tolerance in Chile

Abstract

Based on their research experiences, three female Chilean researchers from the capital city and the north of the country reflect on political trauma and violence, poverty and exclusion, and the processes underlying the mobility of Colombian women in Chile’s northern border. In all of these research areas, “the sensitive” not only becomes a research topic but also confronts both researchers and participants as the main characters of a particular and socially situated relationship. Through their research experiences, proposals, devices, and several methodological strategies for addressing these issues are critically presented, with an emphasis on what qualitative research makes possible, challenges, questions, and faces.