Doing Gender Research as a ‘Gendered Subject’

Challenges and Sparks of Being a Dual-Citizen Woman Researcher in Iran

in Anthropology of the Middle East
Author:
Rassa GhaffariUniversity of Milano-Bicocca r.ghaffari@campus.unimib.it

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3167/ame.2019.140209
Keywords:
citizenship; epistemology; fieldwork; gender; Iran; positionality; reflexivity
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Abstract

This contribution is based on the difficulties, challenges and stimuli faced during the months of field research conducted in Tehran for my PhD dissertation on transformations of gender roles in Iran. Therefore, it means to rethink the three main issues I faced during my ethnography in in a context characterized by peculiar social and cultural dynamics: the difficulties and advantages related to my condition of a woman who works on a topic full of nuances and complexities; my ‘accented identity’ as a researcher born and raised abroad but Iranian by affiliation; and the methodological and epistemological implications and dilemmas arisen in attempt to apply techniques and theories learned mainly within the Western academia.

Contributor Notes

Rassa Ghaffari is a PhD candidate in Applied Sociology and Methodology of Social Research at the University of Milano-Bicocca, where she is currently working as a tutor within the Bachelor's degree in Sociology. Her PhD dissertation focuses on the transformations of gender roles and representations among different generations in Iran, where she has conducted more than one year of field research. Her research interests also include youth status, the changes in family relations and masculinity studies. Email: r.ghaffari@campus.unimib.it

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Anthropology of the Middle East

Cover Anthropology of the Middle East
Article Category:
Other
Page Count:
13
Keywords:
citizenship; epistemology; fieldwork; gender; Iran; positionality; reflexivity
Print Publication Date:
01 Dec 2019
Online Publication Date:
01 Dec 2019
Copyright:
© Berghahn Books 2019

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