Stigma is a troubling barrier to good research. It presents a double challenge to the researcher: an ethical one (research might subject stigmatised individuals and groups to harm) and an epistemological one (stigma creates silences, making it hard to gather data). In my PhD research with African migrant women living in Ireland, I wanted to explore life experiences of gender-based violence, and particularly the stigma that surrounds those experiences. How could I ensure that my research participants were not inadvertently exposed to more stigma because of my inquiry? And how I could practice ethical research, but still interrogate the most private and taboo topics, including violence, rape, and personal and collective feelings of shame?

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