De-identification : ethics of erasure, safety, and agency

![CDATA[This paper presents a critical discussion on ethical issues surrounding the de-identification of research participants in qualitative studies. This discussion will introduce case examples of participants electing that their full names, and other personal (identifying) information, is used in publication outcomes of research, despite potential risk factors and concerns for participant safety if such material is to be made public. Questions surrounding the ethics of de-identification emerged during fieldwork interviews with participants in Ulyanovsk, Russia, for a project on transgenerational transmission of combat-related trauma from parent to child, focusing on the Soviet-Afghan conflict, 1979 to 1989. Part of this research included interviews with Soviet veterans of the Soviet-Afghan war, and family members of veterans. Interactions with participants raised questions of erasure, ethics, participant safety, and agency. This paper focuses on marginalized participants who have been historically and symbolically erased from the discussion of the Soviet-Afghan war, examining the question: does de-identification or anonymization of marginalized research participants perpetuate the historical and symbolic erasure of their voices and experiences?]]