Feminist ethnography : thinking through methodologies, challenges, and possibilities PDF
Preview Feminist ethnography : thinking through methodologies, challenges, and possibilities
f e m i n i s t E T H N O G R A P H Y THINKING THROUGH METHODOLOGIES, CHALLENGES, AND POSSIBILITIES DÁNA-AIN DAVIS & CHRISTA CRAVEN ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD Lanham • Boulder • New York • London Senior Editor: Leanne Silverman Assistant Editor: Karie Simpson College Marketing Manager: Karin Cholak Senior Marketing Manager: Deborah Hudson Cover Designer: Meredith Nelson Cover Art: Thinkstock Credits and acknowledgments of sources for material or information used with permission appear on the appropriate page within the text. Published by Rowman & Littlefield A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowman.com Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB, United Kingdom Copyright © 2016 by Rowman & Littlefield All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Davis, Dána-Ain, 1958– author. | Craven, Christa, 1975– author. Title: Feminist ethnography : thinking through methodologies, challenges, and possibilities / by Dána-Ain Davis and Christa Craven. Description: Lanham, MD : Rowman & Littlefield, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2015045939 (print) | LCCN 2016008411 (ebook) | ISBN 9780759122444 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780759122451 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780759122468 (Electronic) Subjects: LCSH: Feminist theory. | Feminism—Research. | Women’s studies—Methodology. | Social sciences— Research—Methodology. | Feminists—Biography. Classification: LCC HQ1190 .D385 2016 (print) | LCC HQ1190 (ebook) | DDC 305.4201—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015045939 ∞ ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America Brief Contents Acknowledgments ix Preface xi Timeline xv Introduction 1 1 What Is the “Feminist” in Feminist Ethnography? 7 2 Historicizing Feminist Ethnography 29 3 Debates and Interventions in Feminist Ethnography 53 4 How Does One Do Feminist Ethnography? 75 5 Challenges for Feminist Ethnographers 99 6 Producing Feminist Ethnography 121 7 Feminist Activist Ethnography 145 8 Thinking Through the Future of Feminist Ethnography: Conversations with Feminist Ethnographers 167 Glossary 173 Bibliography 175 Index 189 About the Authors 195 iii Contents Acknowledgments ix Preface xi Timeline xv Introduction 1 How We Got Here: Serendipity and Collaboration 2 Thinking Through This Text 4 Unique Features of This Book 5 1 What Is the “Feminist” in Feminist Ethnography? 7 Spotlights: Cheryl Rodriguez on Feminist Thinking 8 What Is Feminist Ethnography? 9 Spotlights: Talisa Feliciano on Challenging Established Theories 11 Essentials: Commentary on Doing Feminist Ethnography by Rosemarie A. Roberts 12 Spotlights: Scott L. Morgensen on the Influence of Feminist Ethnography 13 What Contributed to the History of Feminisms? 14 Essentials: A Portion of the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments, July 19, 1848 15 How Are Feminist Perspectives Categorized? 20 Spotlights: Gayle Rubin’s Influence 23 Essentials: Excerpt from the Combahee River Collective Statement 25 Essentials: Excerpt from “Under Western Eyes Revisited” by Chandra Talpade Mohanty 26 Conclusion 27 2 Historicizing Feminist Ethnography 29 Who Were Some of the Early Contributors to Feminist Ethnography? 30 Essentials: Excerpt from The Omaha Tribe by Alice Fletcher and Francis LaFlesche 32 How Did Feminist Ethnography Mature Between the 1920s and 1960s? 33 Essentials: Excerpt from Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston 35 What Impact Did the Women’s Movement of the 1960s Have on the Next Phase of Feminist Ethnographic Production? (1960s–1980s) 36 Spotlights: Florence Babb on the Impact of Woman, Culture, and Society and Toward an Anthropology of Women 38 Essentials: Excerpt from “Too Queer for College” by Esther Newton 40 Spotlights: Louise Lamphere on the Legacy of Lamphere v. Brown 41 What Interventions Came Out of Feminist Ethnography from the 1990s Through the Present? 43 Essentials: Excerpt from “Methodological Gifts in Latina/o Studies and Feminist Anthropology” by Gina Pérez 45 v vi Contents Spotlights: Lee Baker on Feminist Histories 49 Conclusion 48 3 Debates and Interventions in Feminist Ethnography 53 Who Should Be Claimed as a Feminist Ethnographer? 54 Essentials: Excerpt from Decolonizing Methodologies: Research And Indigenous Peoples by Linda Tuhiwai Smith 55 Can There Be a Feminist Ethnography? 56 Essentials: Excerpt from “Can There Be a Feminist Ethnography?” by Judith Stacey 57 Essentials: Excerpt from Feminism and Method by Nancy A. Naples 59 How Have Feminist Ethnographers Approached the Insider/Outsider Dilemma? 60 Spotlights: Shannon Speed on Fieldwork and Identity 62 Essentials: Excerpt from Desbordes by María Amelia Viteri 64 What Is the Role of Citational Politics in Feminist Ethnography? 65 Essentials: Excerpt from “Telling It Straight: Black Feminist Intellectual Thought in Anthropology” by Lynn Bolles 66 Essentials: Excerpt from “Making Feminist Points,” on the Feminist Killjoys Blog by Sara Ahmed 68 How Involved or Engaged Should a Feminist Ethnographer Be? 69 Spotlights: Ishan Gordon-Ugarte on the Power and Potential Drawbacks of Challenging Positivism 69 Spotlights: Mary L. Gray on the Labor of Feminist Ethnography 71 Conclusion 72 4 How Does One Do Feminist Ethnography? 75 Essentials: Excerpt from “Method and Methodology” by Faye V. Harrison 76 How Should a Feminist Ethnographer Choose a Topic? 78 Spotlights: Elisabeth Engebretsen on Choosing Methods and Shifting Knowledge 79 Can an Ethnographer’s Personal Experience Be a Part of a Study? 81 Essentials: Excerpt from Veiled Sentiments by Lila Abu-Lughod 82 What Methods Have Been Useful to Feminist Ethnographers? 84 Essentials: Excerpt from Queer Activism in India by Naisargi Dave 86 Spotlights: Tracy Fisher on Using Oral/Life History to Address Feminist Ethnographic Questions 88 Spotlights: Whitney Battle-Baptiste on Historical Archaeology and Literary Fiction 92 Essentials: Excerpt from “Photovoice” by Caroline Wang and Mary Ann Burris 94 Conclusion 95 5 Challenges for Feminist Ethnographers 99 Spotlights: Elizabeth Chin on Envisioning a Feminist IRB Process 100 What Logistical Constraints Arise in Feminist Ethnographic Research? 101 Contents vii Essentials: Excerpt from “Global Ethnography: Problems of Theory and Method” by Susan Erikson 103 Essentials: Excerpt from “Cast among Outcastes” by Delores Walters 105 Essentials: Excerpt from Feminist Dilemmas in Fieldwork by Diane Wolf 106 How Do Ethical Concerns Shape the Research Encounter? 107 Essentials: Excerpt from Parallel Worlds: An Anthropologist and a Writer Encounter Africa by Alma Gottlieb and Philip Graham 108 Spotlights: Loretta Ross on Working with Former Skinhead White Supremacists 111 Spotlights: Tanya Erzen on the Politics of Reciprocity and Mediation 113 (How) Should You “Give Back” to Research Participants? 114 How Can We Assess the (Potential) Impacts of Feminist Ethnography? 115 Spotlights: Kiersten Downs on “Feminist Curiosity” and Stamina 116 Spotlights: Sandra Morgen on Movement Building 117 Conclusion 119 6 Producing Feminist Ethnography 121 How Does One Write Feminist Ethnography? 122 Essentials: Excerpt from Alive in the Writing by Kirin Narayan 125 Essentials: Excerpt from Playing with Fire by the Sangtin Writers Collective and Richa Nagar 127 What Creative Possibilities Exist for Writing and Circulating Feminist Ethnography? 128 Spotlights: Aimee Meredith Cox on Writing, Establishing Relationships, and Failure 129 Spotlights: Asale Angel-Ajani on Writing (Without Swagger) 130 Essentials: Excerpt from A World of Babies by Judy DeLoache and Alma Gottlieb 132 Essentials: Excerpt from Downtown Ladies, “My Jelly Platform Shoes” by Gina Athena Ulysse 134 How Can We Make Feminist Ethnography Publicly Accessible? 137 Spotlights: Harjant Gill on Film as a Powerful Feminist Medium 138 How Do Feminist Ethnographers Engage in Creative and Artistic Projects? 139 Conclusion 142 7 Feminist Activist Ethnography 145 Spotlights: Leith Mullings on Making Feminist Ethnography Meaningful 146 What Does It Mean to Be a Feminist Activist Ethnographer? 147 What Should Feminist Activist Ethnography Seek to Accomplish? 150 Essentials: Excerpt from “Water Is Life—Meter’s Out!” by Susan Brin Hyatt 151 Is Feminist Ethnography Inherently Activist? 152 What Forms Can Feminist Activist Ethnography Take? 153 Spotlights: Marianne Maeckelbergh on Being a Feminist Activist Scholar 154 Essentials: Excerpt from the Fed Up Honeys on Stereotypes of Young Urban Womyn of Color 156 Spotlights: Tom Boellstorff on New Technologies and Activism 158 viii Contents Essentials: Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy, a Documentary 159 Spotlights: Michelle Téllez on Activism Through Storytelling in Visual Media 160 Essentials: Excerpt from the Introduction to Comparative Perspectives on the Indigenous Rights Movement in Africa and the Americas by Dorothy Hodgson 161 How Can Feminist Activist Ethnographers Reflect Upon Our Practice? 162 Spotlights: Jennifer Bickham Mendez on the Relevance of Activist-Scholarship 163 Conclusion 165 8 Thinking Through the Future of Feminist Ethnography: Conversations with Feminist Ethnographers 167 Activating Activism 169 Envisioning the Possibilities of Feminist Ethnography 170 Glossary 173 Bibliography 175 Index 189 About the Authors 195 Acknowledgments Many people have contributed to this book, so here is where we want to express our gratitude. Feminist anthropologist, activist, and friend Sandi Morgen inspires the acknowledgements for this project. We had several conversations with her as we pursued work on this book that got us thinking deeply about the debts we owe to academic friendships. She recalled finding herself explaining to baffled family and friends how the academic friendships that she has built over the years—connecting for 20 minutes at conferences year after year, collaborating on panels, generating schol- arship and activism—are essential to her well-being, as a scholar, but also as a per- son. Likewise, the scholarly connections that have inspired and nurtured our scholarly, activist, and personal journeys are many, and deeply valued. Throughout our work on this book, collectively—as coauthors, coeditors, and friends—and individually—as feminist ethnographers and activist-scholars—we have been the recipients of tremendous support. During the production of this book, we received ideas, critiques, and feedback from Ujju Aggarwal, Florence Babb, Elizabeth Chin, LeeRay Costa, Nancy Grace, Faye Harrison, Dorothy Hodgson, Katie Holt, Antoinette Jackson, Shannon King, Ellen Lewin, Laura Mauldin, Jennifer Nelson, and David Valentine. We thank Wendi Schnaufer for starting us on the road to writing this textbook. We are grateful to Leanne Silverman, Karie Simpson, and Jehanne Schweitzer at Rowman and Littlefield, Anita Singh at Deanta Global, and Sherri Barnes at Moon- light Indexing for helping us to bring it to fruition. We also thank Tine Davids and Karin Willemse, who published a special issue in Women’s Studies International Forum (2014) “Embodied Engagements: Feminist Ethnography at the Crossing Knowledge of Production and Representation,” and conference attendees at the Queer Kinship and Relationships Conference, held by the Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sci- ences, Zalesie Mazury, Poland, especially Aspa Chalkidou, Ulrika Dahl, Ruth Preser, Damien Riggs, Antu Sorainen, Agata Staniszińska, and Gracia Trujillo, for drawing our attention to a range of exciting feminist ethnographic work outside of North America. We are grateful for the enthusiasm we have received from so many supportive col- leagues. We thank Rowman & Littlefield’s reviewers for their insightful comments and helpful references: Ujju Aggarwal, Center for Place, Culture and Politics, The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY); Michelle Fine, The Graduate Center, CUNY; Holly Hassel, University of Wisconsin-Marathon County; Martin F. Mana- lansan IV, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; and two anonymous reviewers. The College of Wooster and Queen’s College, CUNY, our home institutions, both granted us timely research leaves, during which we wrote the bulk of this text. The Henry Luce III Fund for Distinguished Scholarship enabled us to travel and work together to bring this manuscript to completion. During Fall 2014, both Dána-Ain and Christa taught courses, Feminist Ethnographies and Ethnographic Research, respectively, and in Spring 2015, Christa introduced portions of the textbook to David McConnell’s “Contemporary Anthropological Theory.” Students in those classes con- tributed immeasurably to both the content and the structure of this text. Some gave constructive comments on early drafts of chapters, and Dána-Ain’s graduate students conducted some of the interviews spotlighted in the text. For their assistance with research and transcription, we would like to thank Jacob Danko, Evangeline Smith, and Sara Tebeau from the College of Wooster. We also appreciate the efforts of two research assistants, Brenna McCaffrey a doctoral student in the anthropology program at the CUNY Graduate Center and Regina McCullough, ix
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