Researching the “Other,” Transforming Ourselves: Methodological Considerations of Feminist Ethnography

Abstract

This article addresses methodological questions surrounding feminist research and, specifically, focuses on feminist ethnography in the Third World and the problematic notion of transformation through feminist ethnographic research. The work also problematizes feminist scholarship that imagines the Third World woman and the Arab woman as monolithic subjects. It is informed by the author's ethnographic research, which explored the lived experience of women musicians in North Africa, and focuses on the questions raised while preparing to conduct field research in a Third World Arab nation and the questions that continue to arise after returning from the field.