Notes toward ethnographies of conflict and violence

This article examines the characteristics of recent ethnographies of "confl ict zones," especially those that seek to bring an experience-near depictio n of violence to the reader. These works are contrasted to older ethnograph ic treatments of violence. A number of critiques of these works are conside red, and the article concludes with a discussion of the several roles (meth odological, conceptual, and moral) that the human rights movement has playe d in helping to formulate the agenda for the new ethnographies of violence and conflict.