In this instalment of the masterclass, Gratia Aimee Ilibagiza is in conversation with Professor Azrini Wahidin as she shares her experience of conducting research with prisoners, her feminist praxis, and the processes of reparative knowledge. This discussion is regarded as an extension of the AVReQ series on sensitive research, creating new ethics for social justice research and draws on Azrini’s experience in the field. Prof Azrini thematically charts her experience of conducting research with prisoners, sex offenders, the LGBTQI community in prison and death row offenders (about the meaning of death and dying) in England, Wales, and the U.S.A.

Prof Azrini furthermore reflected on what it means to be in such spaces as a researcher and entering this very particular field of trauma. A field/space where she says, one must learn to listen and engage differently in all areas of the research, including preparing before one goes into the field, negotiating access, thinking very carefully about one’s own positionality, and about the final products that are produced from your work. Prof Azrini similarly reflected on what it means to bear witness, the burden on the researcher who goes in and witnesses within a particular space and what you take with you when you leave such spaces. In essence, this conversation was about giving embodied insight into the work and what it means to do research in the area of the reparative quest.