Researching Youth, Impact and Charismatic discourse: Reflection on Motivation, Risks and Impact in Online Authoritarian research

Abstract

Researching authoritarian regimes throughout the world is marked by innumerable ethical, social and political challenges impacting the researchers as well as the researched. My research on ‘the discourse of charismatic authoritarian leader Narendra Modi and his discourse's impact on social cohesion among the youth’ brought up ethical and logistical issues that shaped my understanding of challenges as a researcher and pivots for future research in the Indian Sub-continent and beyond, especially in authoritarian1 and semi-authoritarian2 settings. This research comprised of two phases of data collection and analysis. The first comprised of secondary qualitative data which was extracted through YouTube and governmental websites and analysed through Discourse Historical Approach (DHA); the second phase comprised of surveys that were extracted through google forms. Being a part of the editorial team of the journal, this essay is a response to the journal’s theme adding to edition, ‘Research lifecycle: Motivations, Dead Ends and Impact’ reflecting on research motivations, ethical dilemmas, challenges, pivots and impact in an authoritarian or a highly politically sensitive field through my experiences as an online researcher in a polarised, semi-authoritarian society (India). The essay highlights how authoritarian contexts not only shape the research methods but also trust, and research impact.