Accessing the Field, Defining People, and Exploring Extended Complicity

Abstract In research on violent activism, extremism, radicalization, or jihadism, there appears to be a lack of firsthand or internalist approaches. This lack conflicts with the idea that in order to understand radicalization or extremism, we need to go beyond texts, secondhand interviews, and so on. It is thought that fieldwork may bring more or new understandings as to why people affiliate themselves with militant groups and engage in political violence. Yet, it is often difficult to gain access to these groups because of ideological constraints or suspicion of researchers being spies. “How did you get access to the field?” is therefore a frequently asked question. Based upon ethnographic work that will be discussed in detail, this chapter takes these observations as a starting point and argues for a relational approach that recognizes that state, media, and academia are not outside the field but constitutive in constructing it.