Working with victims of police brutality: Conducting and documenting multistoried interviews — Nicolás Mosso Tupper

It can be difficult to find opportunities to tell and reconsider stories of police or state violence. Speaking out can pose a risk to the person, particularly if the story might connect them to protests or persecuted groups. When a person does tell a story of police brutality, it is likely that they will more richly describe the violence they have experienced than the ways they responded and continue to respond to that violence. This paper reflects on particular considerations when working with people who have experienced or been affected by police brutality. It offers a structured series of questions for inviting double-storied testimonies that attend to both the violence and the person’s responses to the violence. One of the effects of state violence is to separate people from movements, so this paper has a particular focus on how people maintain connection to values that are important to them, and to social movements that seek to further these values.