{"id":81,"date":"2010-06-18T14:39:44","date_gmt":"2010-06-18T21:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tabithahart.net\/?p=81"},"modified":"2010-06-18T14:42:03","modified_gmt":"2010-06-18T21:42:03","slug":"gender-and-ethnographic-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/?p=81","title":{"rendered":"Gender and ethnographic research"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Warren, C.A.B. and Hackney, J.K.\u00a0 (2000). <\/strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Gender Issues In Ethnography<\/strong><\/span><strong>.\u00a0 Thousand Oaks, CA.\u00a0 Sage.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sagepub.com\/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book9381\" target=\"_blank\">Warren and Hackney&#8217;s interesting book<\/a> treats how gender influences, shapes, affects, and is part of ethnographic data collection, especially a researcher\u2019s experiences in the field.\u00a0 Below are some of my notes on Warren &amp; Hackney\u2019s key ideas &amp; concepts.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Gender DOES influence ethnography and the fieldwork experience<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cGender      is built into the social structure of\u2026social orders, across time and      space, permeating other hierarchies of race or status.\u00a0 Living within a society or      visiting one as a fieldworker presupposes gendered performances,      interactions, conversations, and interpretations on the part of both the      researcher and respondents.\u201d (1)<\/li>\n<li>\u201c\u2026gender      shapes the interactions in our settings; it shapes entr\u00e9e, trust, research      roles and relationships\u2026\u201d\u00a0      (3)\u00a0 It shapes the      fieldwork experience as well as the knowledge produced in the fieldwork      setting.<\/li>\n<li>Ethnography      has stages, including: \u201centr\u00e9e into the setting, finding a place,      fieldwork roles and relationships, research bargains, trust and rapport,      and leaving the field.\u00a0 Gender      both frames these stages&#8230;\u201d (3)<\/li>\n<li>As      ethnographers, how we enter a fieldsite and how we are received\/perceived      by people in that fieldsite is affected by gender, as well as:\u00a0 \u201cmarital status, age, physical      appearance, presence and number of children, social class, and ethnic      racial or national differences&#8230;\u201d (5)<\/li>\n<li>In      terms of access, the authors differentiate between physical access and      access to actual meanings (see p. 6) and note that gender will affect both      of these factors.<\/li>\n<li>When      we enter a culture, be essentially become part of its \u201clandscape of      contemporary life\u201d (11) and who we are is established in part through the      \u201cexisting cultural stock of knowledge and action available\u201d (12) in that      context.\u00a0 This includes the cultural-historical      attitudes towards and beliefs about gender, of course.<\/li>\n<li>Your      place in the fieldsite probably won\u2019t be static.\u00a0 These authors believe that our \u201croles and      relationships\u201d in the fieldsite are constantly being negotiated and      renegotiated \u2013 we shouldn\u2019t take them for granted or assume that they      won\u2019t change.\u00a0 (14)<\/li>\n<li>Gender      (yours, informants\u2019) will affect interviews in some way, whether in what      people wish to disclose to you, or in how they communicate with you, or      how they view you, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Even if      you connect with informants through shared gender, your rapport\/connection      will be further affected by perceptions of\/evaluations of other factors      like \u201ceducation, marital status, and social class\u201d (39)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Practical Considerations for ethnographers, especially female ethnographers<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Marital      status\/Parental status:\u00a0 What      is a \u201clegitimate\u201d woman in the cultural context where you are collecting      data?\u00a0 These authors note that      marriage and motherhood are fuller, more legitimate social members in some      societies than single or childless women.\u00a0 Factors like this can affect how you are viewed and      treated by informants. (see p.8-11)\u00a0      Shared characteristics (marriage, parenthood, others) can possibly      help you to establish a connection with your informants.\u00a0 How might differences affect your      connections with informants? <em><\/em><\/li>\n<li>Clothes:      \u201cSometimes the research task is facilitated by wearing clothes that are      the same as one\u2019s hosts, sometimes not.\u201d (22)\u00a0 Dress and hairstyles:\u00a0 \u201cmay be adopted to fit into the culture\u2019s gender roles,      to disassociate oneself from those roles for some particular purpose, or to      satisfy other demands based on age or social class.\u201d\u00a0 (23) What are you expected to      wear, based on your identity, or your preferred identity in that setting?<\/li>\n<li>Body      norms:\u00a0 \u201cresearchers own      conformity or nonconformity with [body norms] [has] research      consequences.\u201d\u00a0 (25)<em><\/em><\/li>\n<li>Consider      etiquette, boundaries, norms, meanings, etc. related to gender in that cultural context.\u00a0      What are the expectations about your behavior as a (female) ethnographer?\u00a0 What are the rules in regards to      talking with informants?<em><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Other reflective questions<\/span><\/p>\n<p>See excerpt from Krieger on p. 58:\u00a0 How do informants expect us to behave?\u00a0 How do informants expect each other to behave?\u00a0 What ideas are we bringing with us into the site?\u00a0 What gender-related expectations are flexible, breakable vs. inflexible, required?\u00a0 How can gender hinder or assist us in the data collection?<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Other interesting concepts<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fictive      kin (14-15) \u2013 as stranger\/ethnographer establishing your place in a      fieldsite, you might be adopted as a family\u2019s child, or people\u2019s sister,      etc.<\/li>\n<li>Cross-gender      behavior (15-) to what extent are you permitted to flout or cross gender      lines as a stranger\/ethnographer in the fieldsite?<\/li>\n<li>Permitted      deviance:\u00a0 \u201cways in which      norms differ from behavior or norms for foreigners differ from norms for      natives.\u201d\u00a0 (58)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">My comments\/questions<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Assumptions      about and expectations related to gender will vary from culture to      culture.\u00a0 How do our assumptions      as a research team, or our personal assumptions, compare to those of our      informants, or to those of the informants\u2019 cultures-at-large?\u00a0 We should be aware of this as we      conduct our fieldwork.<\/li>\n<li>We      should always have some background information on gender norms in the settings      we study, and be aware of how they compare to gender norms in our home      settings.<\/li>\n<li>One      message of this book is to consider what aspects of informants\u2019 worlds you      are\/are not seeing as an ethnographer.\u00a0 What percentage of those worlds do you actually have      access to?\u00a0 Be aware of the      limits of the information that you are collecting.<\/li>\n<li>What      roles are we as researchers being \u201ccast in\u201d (35) because of gender (ours,      our informants\u2019)?\u00a0 What      control do we have over that?\u00a0      How can we negotiate that?<\/li>\n<li>In      writing up fieldwork for articles, conferences, etc. what do researchers      put in\/leave out in regards to gender in their methodology sections?\u00a0 To what extent should their gender      and the gender of their informants be treated, discussed?\u00a0 How much of the gender element is      necessary\/important to expound on to explain findings, to make sense of      the study?\u00a0 (see p. 39      onwards)<\/li>\n<li>As      discussed by these authors (see p. 49 onwards) fieldnotes are not neutral,      timeless documents, but are definitely rooted in the socio-cultural      attitudes of the time\/place\/period in which they are written.\u00a0 Furthermore, they are rooted in      our individual characters, beliefs, assumptions, etc.\u00a0 Our fieldnotes say as much about      us \u2013 the writers \u2013 and our times as they do about the people we observe      and interview.\u00a0 How do you      deal with this fact in analyzing and writing up your fieldwork?<\/li>\n<li>Perhaps      we should incorporate an ecological analysis into our work to be more      aware of the different contextual layers that influence meaning, meaning      making, and our own roles as ethnographers in the fieldsite?\u00a0 For example, include some cultural-historical      analysis as macro and micro levels?<\/li>\n<li>To      what extent do we modify our behavior to fit in with the gender      norms\/expectations where we collect data?\u00a0 Our attitudes, plans, results vis-\u00e0-vis modifying our      behavior should be documented, discussed.<\/li>\n<li>How      does gender (as well as other gender-related characteristics covered in      this book) make it easier or difficult to gain trust, to establish      rapport, to get deep information?\u00a0      How do these characteristics influence our interviews, our      observations, our interactions?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Warren, C.A.B. and Hackney, J.K.\u00a0 (2000). Gender Issues In Ethnography.\u00a0 Thousand Oaks, CA.\u00a0 Sage. Warren and Hackney&#8217;s interesting book treats how gender influences, shapes, affects, and is part of ethnographic data collection, especially a researcher\u2019s experiences in the field.\u00a0 Below are some of my notes on Warren &amp; Hackney\u2019s key ideas &amp; concepts. Gender DOES [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84,"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions\/84"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tabithahart.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}