Gaining research access into the lives of Muslim girls: researchers negotiating<i>muslimness</i>, modesty,<i>inshallah</i>, and<i>haram</i>

Abstract

This paper explores the process of gaining research access into the lives of Muslim girls in the southwest USA. We discuss four emerging 'entry markers' that challenged the process of gaining and sustaining access over a period of 14 months. These included being Muslim enough, being modest enough, inshallah (Allah or God willing), and haram (forbidden). Additionally, we reflect on (1) how one researcher identified the four 'entry markers'; (2) how she negotiated these markers by using her cultural and linguistic literacies and her fluid insiderness/outsiderness; and (3) how building and maintaining relationships with key members of the local Muslim community was central to this study and was directly reliant on negotiating the positions of difference on the embodiments of a specific and prevailing body discourse – the hijab discourse. This negotiation was only possible by the researchers' practice and maintenance of critical reflexivity throughout the study.