What does it mean to adopt interpretive modes of inquiry into political violence, and into the practices of interpretation enabling it? Do interpretivists repudiate the search for factual truth by eschewing methods aimed at producing a purportedly coherent picture of what happened? Anchoring their responses to these questions in the study of communal violence in Myanmar, the members of this panel discuss how interpretive research entails a commitment to truth tempered by recognition that facts are always contingent. By attending to the processes, narratives, histories and typologies that have contributed to production of violence, interpretive research not only presents opportunities for more truthful accounts of violence than those of its methodological others, but in so doing also raises questions about conventional readings of violence, and seemingly self-evident categories for its analysis.

Speakers include:

-Chair: Dr Nick Cheesman, Department of Political and Social Change, ANU

-Dr Cecilia Jacob, Department of International Relations, CAP, ANU

-Ana Alonso, Department of Political and Social Change, ANU

-Gerard McCarthy, Department of Political and Social Change, ANU

This panel is part of "The Interpretation of Global Politics: methods and epistemologies after the event" conference.