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 Ghaffari University of Milano-Bicocca r.ghaffari@campus.unimib.it

Search for other papers by Rassa Ghaffari in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3167/ame.2019.140209
Keywords:
citizenship; epistemology; fieldwork; gender; Iran; positionality; reflexivity
Restricted access

All currencies in US Dollar

PayPal Logo

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

  • Collapse
  • Expand
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

  • Akbar, S. (2012), ‘From Khariji to Kabuli Being an “Insider/Outsider” in an Afghan Woman's Fieldwork’, Anthropology of the Middle East 7, no. 1: 69–77, https://doi.org/10.3167/ame.2012.070106.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Amanolahi, S. (2004), ‘Fieldwork among Pastoral Nomads and in Sedentary Communities of Iran’, Iranian Studies 37, no. 4: 613–621, https://doi.org/10.1080/0021086042000324152.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bourdieu, P. (1990), ‘Structures, Habitus, Practices’, in The Logic of Practice (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press), 52–65.

  • Bourdieu, P. (1992), ‘Réponses: Pour une anthropologie réfléxive’, Revue française de sociologie 34, no. 2: 293–296.

  • Brayda, B. and Boyce, W. (2014), ‘So You Really Want to Interview Me?: Navigating “Sensitive” Qualitative Research Interviewing’, International Journal of Qualitative Methods 13, no. 1: 318–334, https://doi.org/10.1177%2F160940691401300115.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Carapico, S. (2006), ‘No Easy Answers: The Ethics of Field Research in the Arab World’, Political Science and Politics 39: 429–431, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096506060690.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Decataldo, A. and Ruspini, E. (eds) (2014), La ricerca di genere (Rome: Carocci Editore).

  • Ezzy, D. (2010), ‘Qualitative Interviewing as an Embodied Emotional Performance’, Qualitative Inquiry 16, no. 3: 163–170, https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800409351970.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Fife, W. (2005), Doing Fieldwork: Ethnographic Methods for Research in Developing Countries and Beyond (New York: Palgrave Macmillan).

  • Gerami, S. (2003), ‘Mullahs, Martyrs, and Men’, Men and Masculinities 5, no. 3: 257–274, https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X02238526.

  • Gluck, S. and Patai, D. (1991), Women's Word: the Feminist Practice of Oral History (New York: Routledge).

  • Goode, J. (2011), ‘Eyes Wide Shut: Democratic Reversals, Scientific Closure, and Post-Soviet Eurasia’, Social Science Quarterly 97, no. 4: 876–893, https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12343.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Harding, S. and Norberg, K. (2005), ‘New Feminist Approaches to Social Science Methodologies: An Introduction’, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 30, no. 4: 2010–2015, https://doi.org/10.1086/428420.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Hegland, M. and Friedl, E. (2006), ‘Methods Applied: Political Transformation and Recent Ethnographic Fieldwork in Iran’, Anthropology of the Middle East 1, no. 2: 1–19, https://doi.org/10.3167/174607106780587003.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Henrion-Douncy, I. (2013), ‘Easier in Exile? Comparative Observations on Doing Research among Tibetans in Lhasa and Dharamsala’, in Red Stamps and Gold Stars: Fieldwork Dilemmas in Upland Socialist Asia, (ed.) S. Turner (Toronto: UBC Press), 201–219.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Higginbottom, G. M. and Serrant-Green, L. (2005). ‘Developing Culturally Sensitive Skills in Health and Social Care, with a Focus on Conducting Research with African Caribbean Communities in England’, Qualitative Report 10, no. 4, 662–686.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Khan, S. (2005), ‘Reconfiguring the Native Informant: Positionality in the Global Age’, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 30, no. 4, https://doi.org/10.1086/428423.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Kloch, N. (2013), ‘Introduction–Field Methods in ‘Closed Contexts’: Undertaking Research in Authoritarian States and Places’, Area 45, no. 4: 390–395, https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12044.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Matsumoto, V. (1996), ‘Reflections of Oral History in a Japanese American Community’, in Wolf 1996: 160–169.

  • Nadjmabadi, S. (2004), ‘From “Alien” to “One of Us” and Back: Field Experiences in Iran’, Special Issue: Ethnographic Fieldwork in Iran, Iranian Studies 37, no. 4: 603–612, https://doi.org/10.1080/0021086042000324143.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Narayan, K. (1993), ‘How Native is a “Native” Anthropologist?’ American Anthropologist 95, no. 3: 671–686, https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1993.95.3.02a00070.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Osanloo, A. (2004), ‘Doing the “Rights” Thing: Methods and Challenges of Fieldwork in Iran’, Iranian Studies 37, no. 4: 675–84, https://doi.org/10.1080/0021086042000324215.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Rezai-Rashti, G. M. (2013), ’Conducting Field Research on Gender Relations in a Gender Repressive State : a Case Study of Gender Research in Iran’, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 26, no. 4, https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2013.765615.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Rivetti, P. (2017), ‘Methodology Matters in Iran: Researching Social Movements in Authoritarian Contexts’, Anthropology of the Middle East 12, no. 1: 71–82, https://doi.org/10.3167/ame.2017.120106.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Rivetti, P. and Saeidi, S. (2018), ‘What Is So Special about Field Research in Iran? Doing Fieldwork in Religiously Charged Authoritarian Settings’, in Political Science Research in the Middle East and North Africa, (ed.) J. A. Clark and F. Cavatorta (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Rouhani, F. (2004), ‘Multiple Sites of Fieldwork: A Personal Reflection’, Iranian Studies 37, no 4: 685–693, https://doi.org/10.1080/0021086042000324224.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Saeidi, S. (2018). ‘A Compassionate Pursuit of Justice: Towards a Religious Ethics of Care in a Time of Securitisation’, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 35, no. 2.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Scheper-Hughes, N. (2007), ‘Ire in Ireland’, in Ethnographic Fieldwork. An Anthropological Reader, (ed.) A. Robben and J. Sluka, (Malden: Blackwell Publishing), 202–217.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Schwedler, J. (2006), ‘The Third Gender: Western Female Researchers in the Middle East’, Political Science and Politics 39, no. 3: 425–428, https://doi.org/10.1017/S104909650606077X.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Semi, G. (2010), L'Osservazione Partecipante. Una Guida Pratica (Milan: Il Mulino).

  • Shahbazi, M. (2004), ‘Insider/Outsider: An Indigenous Anthropologist Bridges a Gap’, Special Issue: Ethnographic Fieldwork in Iran, Iranian Studies 37, no. 4: 593–602, https://doi.org/10.1080/0021086042000324134.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Shahshahani S. (2014), ‘Editorial. Sexuality, Culture and Public Politics in the Middle East’, Anthropology of the Middle East 9, no. 2: v–xi, https://doi.org/10.3167/ame.2014.090201.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Shavarini, M. (2008), ‘Western Procedures, Eastern Protocols: Conducting Research in the Western-Wary Islamic Republic of Iran’, in Innovations in education, (ed.) J. E. Larkley and V. B. Maynhard, (New York: Nova Science), 173–188.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Solinger, D. (2006), ‘Interviewing Chinese People: From High-level Officials to the Unemployed’, in Doing Fieldwork in China, (ed.) M. Heimer and S. Thøgersen, (Copenhagen: NIAS Press), 110–129.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Stanley, L. and Wise, S. (1993), Breaking Out Again. Feminist Ontology and Epistemology (London: Routledge).

  • Wall, C. and Overton J. (2006), ‘Unethical Ethics? Applying Research Ethics in Uzbekistan’, Development in Practice 16, no. 1: 62–67, https://doi.org/10.1080/09614520500450834.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Wolf, D. L. (1996), Feminist Dilemmas in Fieldwork (Boulder, CO: Westview).

Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 2985 1903 114
Full Text Views 56 7 0
PDF Downloads 86 11 0