Vulnerable Field(work) amid Democratic Backsliding: The Case of Hong Kong

While scholarship on ethics of fieldwork research in authoritarian regimes is well established, little has been written on the topic in the context of democratic backsliding. This paper aims to address this lacuna by looking at the case of contemporary Hong Kong, where the government passed a new National Security Law (NSL) in 2020. The NSL, introduced in response to the 2019 popular protests in the city, is criticized for its vagueness and undermining the foundations of a democratic system such as the rule of law and freedom of speech and assembly. Consequently, the law heralds a state of judicial ambiguity amid socio-political transformations where there are no red lines, only grey zones. Navigating these grey zones therefore presents a researcher with a set of challenges different to when working in established democratic or authoritarian regimes. In order to sufficiently fulfil the ethical obligations of fieldwork research in such an unstable socio-political environment, this paper proposes an approach to fieldwork research that considers fieldwork research as inherently vulnerable. Vulnerability is therefore considered as an ongoing situational process rather than a static condition. Drawing on original fieldwork research on Hong Kong national identity conducted in 2021, the paper offers a critical evaluation of vulnerabilities arising from conducting fieldwork research amid democratic backsliding. In do so, it proposes a set of recommendations as to how to address such vulnerabilities prior, during and after fieldwork – while maintaining the rigor and integrity of the research process.