In late Summer 2017, when I (Sandro) was starting to engage into longterm fieldwork, my research site, the Tana Delta was shaken by row of deadly attacks ascribed to al-Shabaab, which finally led me to cancel my envisioned research on water related work practices in the area.
After an exciting and promising exploration trip in Spring of the same year where I established first amical relations with interlocutors and other academics, where I got a sense of the sociality as well as the materiality in place and after months of comprehensive preparations, this was a though decision to make.
However, endangering the lives of my interlocutors and my assistant was ethically not supportable and longterm fieldwork on my envised subject of study appeared neither doable nor livable under the given and ongoing threat.
While I am still mournful and concerned about the situation in the Tana Delta, I am also glad and thankful that I found the Sine-Saloum Delta in Senegal as an alternative research site. Both the academic community that shared their expertise generously and the people of the delta with their openness and interest in my work allowed for a good start of my fieldwork 2.0. 

PS: I will publish something on my experiences of fieldwork in danger and fear in the coming months and will post about my ongoing fieldwork here on our blog. You can also read a recent, short piece on watery infrastructure in the Tana Delta here.