'Your life looks like a fairytale': Challenges in building rapport with children and youth in contexts of protracted conflict.

My PhD research, titled ‘Artisans of Peace’, was conducted in the post conflict environment of Bogotá, Colombia. It consisted of an Arts based intervention with children and youth (ages 6-18) across 3 municipalities of Bogotá. The study adopted an ethnographic approach to the fieldwork, over a 4-month period. This involved the task of building rapport and gaining the trust of the children and young people, whilst navigating multiple roles – as researcher, teacher, support and, from the participants’ perspective, a friend. The ethical dilemma emerged throughout the ethnographic fieldwork process, as I sought to balance the tensions around these different roles, particularly, being an adult and international researcher working with child and youth participants.