Resisting silenced voices: Exploring feminist standpoint epistemology and co/autoethnography in analysing attacks against Gender Studies

The argument of this paper is that the dual roles of activist and scholar within resistance against anti-gender campaigns create a unique vantage position, enriching knowledge production on both epistemological and methodological dilemmas in conducting research on anti-gender mobilizations. By incorporating the first-hand experiences of the authors engaged in the 2020 resistance against the ban on gender studies, the paper contributes to a deeper understanding of effective resistance methods and expands scholarship on methodological and ethical challenges to studying anti-gender mobilizations. We consider that feminist standpoint epistemology strengthens academic inquiry into attacks against gender studies given its emphasis on situated knowledge and partial perspective (Harraway, 1988; Harding, 1986; 1992). We seek to address the following interconnected research questions: How do we scientifically analyse attacks that are ethically incongruent with values embraced both as researchers and activists? Equally important, how do we conceptualize researchers’ positionality when attacks nominally targeted the authors? Considering disciplinary and scholarly scientific boundaries, how can we integrate our own experiences in the production of knowledge and explore previous attacks against gender studies in Romania? We approach the study of the ban on gender studies as ‘knowledge experience’ and consider that there is an ‘epistemic advantage’ derived from our active involvement in anti-gender campaigns (Gago & Mason-Deese, 2019). Feminist co/autoethnography (Chapola & Datta, 2023; Taylor & Coia, 2019; Ettorre, 2017) has the potential to expand knowledge in the field, provide tools and tactics for scholars to better engage in resistance and consider outcomes of such engagement, such as: resources, time, exposure, political skills and savviness, ‘public targeted online harassment’ (Ferber, 2018: 302). Our specific focus is on the Romanian context, yet we endeavour to draw connections to broader developments in the region and across Europe (Norocel & Paternotte, 2023; Norocel & Giorgi, 2022).