This article investigates the research settings, conditions and opportunities
offered by an applied research on gender violence conducted
in Sicily (2004) by a group of associated independent researchers called
DAERA. The research obstacles and results are outlined to shed light
on the potentialities, negotiations and legitimacy of anthropological
analysis in contributing to policy-oriented investigations and informing
public debate. At the same time, I describe the hierarchies of knowledge
and social dynamics that influence the research process, in this case
visible in negotiations over ethnography as a research tool, the validity
of anthropological arguments and the final report write-up. Suggesting
that domestic violence might be illuminated by anthropological insights
on violence, social suffering, subjectivity and gendered power relations,
this paper discusses how theory and engagement might be intertwined
and expressed. I conclude by arguing that, even when it is related to
a professional job, applied anthropology requires methodological
rigour, the ability to combine multiple research tools, an ethical and
socio-political awareness and a strong commitment to and command
of anthropological conceptualisations and theories
