Female Researchers Conducting Fieldwork in Arab Societies: Reflections on Positionality in the Field

Abstract

This panel proposes to look at the unique set of challenges women contend with when studying Arab societies. The panel includes an Arab woman, "halfies" (Abou-Lughod 1989) doing fieldwork both in Arab societies in the region and among diasporas in the West, in addition to White women doing fieldwork with both male and female Islamists. These scholars study how these issues impact knowledge production and scrutinize how colonial knowledge hierarchies and proximity to Western knowledge facilitate or hinder their access in the field and relations with interlocutors. White female researchers question the so-called "third gender" (Schwedler 2007) which alleges Western female researchers are not perceived as female in Middle Eastern contexts. They also reflect on how brief moments of ‘passing’ can impact data collection, both positively and negatively. Halfies (half-Arab, half white) face a different set of challenges: They can be seen as insiders while studying the societies of origin of their parent which gives them both a challenging and privileged position. In Western contexts, a halfie’s "European" identity goes mostly unquestioned and allows for a professionalized encounter governed by formal and institutionalized norms. An Arab woman’s experience studying her own society is different. While she has the advantage of fluency in the local language, assumptions about one’s sect or religion, ethnicity, or political belonging and beliefs often impedes access to certain groups. However, access to respondents from the same sectarian or ethnic group can be facilitated by family networks and intuitive knowledge of the society. The final aim of this panel will be to draw insights from these multiple social locations on how to develop sensitivity to extractive knowledge practices and to guard against this exploitative form of research in one’s fieldwork.

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