Note From the Author

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

My name is Federico Manfredi and I am a Ph.D. candidate at the City University of New York. My primary research focus is the study of irregular armed groups, in particular guerrillas, militias, and paramilitaries.

I have conducted field research in Afghanistan, Angola, Colombia, Haiti, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Kosovo, Lebanon, Mexico, South-Eastern Turkey, and the Southern Philippines, and my work has been published in World Policy Journal, The Huffington Post, H-Diplo, and AsiaNews.

I am also the editor and co-founder of The Journalist Connection, an online magazine featuring reports, photos, and videos produced by young non-professional journalists who live in areas of conflict.

I created La Spaccata in January 2007 to share brief reports about the countries and regions I visit. This website has been significantly enriched in terms of content and design by my collaboration with Maryam Ishani.

I generally travel with a small backpack containing a laptop computer and two cameras (photo and video), so that I can take pictures, write, edit, and publish on the go. I hope that other people will eventually join this project and allow me to publish their writings, photographs, and videos.

The most important lesson I learned as a student is to always seek a balanced understanding of a given conflict. Why did a particular action take place? What beliefs does it represent? And what reactions will it produce? This is my research method. Any conclusion or opinion that I express reflects my personal understanding and is up for discussion.

To contact me regarding this site, to ask questions, or to offer comments or contributions, please e-mail me at: