North Korea: The Challenge and Necessity of Fieldwork; [Un champ à travailler. Modalités et nécessité du terrain en Corée du Nord]

Abstract

How does one do social science fieldwork in North Korea? The authors of this article take stock of more than ten years of academic work in North Korea undertaken in various disciplines, both individually and in interdisciplinary groups. First, doing fieldwork in North Korea is a matter of taking a critical stance in the face of this difficult terrain in a closed context. Far from being unique, North Korea poses known problems such as surveillance, the asymmetry of positions, the risk of instrumentalisation, and the difficulty of interpretation. Added to this is a scopic saturation linked to concentrated visibility regimes and an omnipresent relationship to power that limits observations and interviews. The field researcher must therefore seek alternative forms of investigation and restitution. After defining the specificities of the scientific field in North Korea and its difficulties, the article presents some avenues for resilient research capable of offering counter-discourses on this littleknown country. © Presses de Sciences Po.