Salafi Jihadism: Relying on fieldwork to study unorganized and clandestine phenomena

Abstract

In the study of unorganized and clandestine phenomena such as Salafi Jihadism, attention is primarily given to illegal activities and to the individuals involved in such activities. This article argues that greater attention could and should be given to milieus and to individuals in the context of their milieus rather than to the individuals in isolation. The article shows that in the case of Salafi Jihadism the milieu around actual terrorism cases is indeed an important object of study and that this milieu can in fact be studied more easily than is often thought by relying on fieldwork. The article explains how a lengthy ethnographic fieldwork was carried out and discusses the advantages, challenges, and pitfalls of this method. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.