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- Convenors:
-
Skyler Hawkins
(The University of Manchester)
Nada Al-Hudaid (Lund University)
Send message to Convenors
- Discussant:
-
Margaret Jolly
(The Australian National University)
- Formats:
- Panels
- Location:
- Hancock Library, room 2.24
- Sessions:
- Tuesday 3 December, -, -
Time zone: Australia/Sydney
Short Abstract:
In calling for the contemporary exploration of gender in our discipline, this panel explores the value in and of the theoretical approaches to, methodological considerations and wider inclusion of gender in anthropological written and visual materials.
Long Abstract:
The concept of gender and the employment of visual methods have both been widely discussed in ethnographic research (Butler 2006, El-Guindi 2004, Gutmann 1996, Mahmood 2001, Mulvey 1975, Pink 2007). Seeking to explore the links between gender, researcher, methodology and ethnography, this panel examines the means by which ethnographic research that engages with visual and other sensory media can and does generate understandings of gender as a concept, a lived experience and ways of seeing and being in the world. Evaluating these links can provide important insights to what type of knowledge anthropologists can produce that adds significant contributions to literature in new and impactful ways, and papers presented in this panel explores such contributions through the recollection and analysis of the researcher's personal experiences in the field, while writing up and presenting their findings.
This panel posits the following sets of questions: If we seek to measure values in and of anthropological research, how do approaches to and an analysis of gender help us to achieve these values? And, how, when, by whom and for what purpose is value determined? What values can anthropologists bring to the discipline and their research participants, especially those who conduct their fieldwork with visual materials? We aim to include contributions from those working in gender around the world who incorporate forms of visual and audio materials - film, photography, paintings, graphics, among many others - in their methodologies and in the presentation of their research.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Monday 2 December, 2019, -Paper short abstract:
Echoing the panel's call for contemporary anthropological explorations of gender, this paper uses data generated during the 2016 United States elections to evaluate the employment of feminist and visual methodological approaches to the study of the political fieldsite as it is experienced by women.
Paper long abstract:
By considering and critiquing the value of their unique methodological contributions, this paper will assess the application of feminist and visual theoretical frameworks to the study of gender within the political fieldsite. In support of the panel's question that asks 'how, when, by whom and for what purpose is value determined?' I will also contend that this ethnographic project, and other such studies alongside which it stands, are vital to the understanding of modern politics, to the presentation of politically engaged women, particularly women of colour, as complex and compelling sites of inquiry, and to the overall growth of the discipline inside and outside the academy.
Focusing on the intersection of race, gender and politics through an examination of the political and personal lives of female elected officials and community leaders in the US state of North Carolina, the ethnographic project from which this paper employs a Black feminist theoretical framework to analyse how women work, interact and are understood in modern, American politics. To do so, it utilises a range of methods, including the use of video and sound equipment to capture the sights, sounds and spaces within the halls of government, out in the community, and on the campaign trail. The paper will make its way through my time in the field, as well as in the thesis formation process, to assess the role of feminist frameworks, camera-based methods and ethnographies of the political world, and their place in the wider discussion about values in/of anthropology.
Paper short abstract:
This presentation will be on the process of gaining access to religious women spaces and how the camera played an important role in the whole process.
Paper long abstract:
Before going to fieldwork, I always found it useful to read other researchers' accounts on how they gained access and what type of negotiations they had to do. A researcher cannot always anticipate what type of challenges can happen especially if their fieldwork topic changes while still in the process of conducting the research.
In this presentation, I will share my experience of doing fieldwork with a camera among pious Shia women artists in Kuwait. Gaining access to religious spaces may not be necessarily difficult but when a camera is introduced, it can change so many factors. I will be presenting some of the challenges that I faced and how I dealt with them. I will also tackle the question of what type of knowledge the camera is capable of producing in an environment where filming is not allowed?
Paper short abstract:
In the Western discourse, Pakistani Muslim women have been depicted as passive and unaware of their life choices. Developing on a visual data and a yearlong ethnographic fieldwork, this talk particularly challenges this presumption.
Paper long abstract:
Following September 11, 2001 terrorists' attacks in New York, the debate over gender in Muslim societies has taken a new form in which "women" are explained and judged through pre-defined assumptions. As the Western world suddenly discovered the "miserable" and "depressed" condition of Muslim women and took a passionate stand to safeguard their rights, women's socio-religious practices (such as purdah) were interpreted as a sign of their oppression. Drawing on yearlong ethnographic fieldwork with women workers of Jamaat-e-Islami and NGOs in Islamabad Pakistan, and developing on the visual role of the internet in this regard, this talk examines Muslim women's diverse worldviews, and explicates how and in what ways they possess distinct personalities that are hard to justify with single identity of "oppressed" and "suffered". By highlighting the activism of Jamaat-e-Islami and NGOs women workers on the cases of Malala Yousafzai and Aafia Siddqui, the talk shows different ways of utilizing the power of agency, shaped under specific organizational habitus. It argues that there is a need to study Muslim women under the structures in which they are incorporated to explore how they attain a sense of purpose and wellbeing. The talk will be supplemented with the visual data taken from the social media, newspapers, and the internet, and will highlight the crucial need of integrating ethnography with the visual methodology to explore a deep understanding of gender dynamics in developing societies.
Paper short abstract:
When researching gender and sexual morality with young children, it is not always appropriate or productive to raise certain topics directly. In this paper on the value of visual methods, I reflect on my experience learning from Karen children in Thailand about their experiences of gender.
Paper long abstract:
In this presentation, I share samples of visual materials collected at a
Thai public school located in an upland Sgaw Karen village in Mae Hong
Son Province. Included are drawings, photographs and video clips that
shed light on a range of matters relating to gender in my fieldsite.
While researching gender and sexual morality among Karen schoolchildren,
it was not always appropriate or productive to address certain topics
directly through conversation. During fieldwork, child participants in
my research ranged from 5–16 years of age and warranted use of a range
of different methods for collecting data on potentially sensitive
topics. My fieldwork was primarily concerned with attitudes toward
romantic relationships between teenagers. Among my much younger
participants in particular, visual methods provided useful ways of
learning about childhood experiences of gender-related issues.
I regularly joined the younger children in drawing pictures, allowing
them to guide the subject of our ‘conversations’ that were taking place
on, and mediated through, the page. I also regularly gave the children
control over my camera, allowing them, under my supervision, to choose
what to document through film and photography. In addition to giving me
a record of interactions between my research participants, sitting down
and reviewing these materials alongside participants afterwards provided
new opportunities for guided conversation. I reflect both on the
anthropological values driving my use of these methods, and on the local
gender values embedded in the data they helped me to collect.
Paper short abstract:
In using photography to capture devotees' interactions with saintly images in Oaxaca, Mexico, this paper explores the value of visual methods in unveiling the fluidity of gender in relation to intimacy, understood as care and closeness -trait often attributed to women- in the context of devotion.
Paper long abstract:
This paper explores intimacy, a fleeting index of emotional closeness and care, as a place to discern gender and to question essentialised views of the same. Based on visual ethnography on the devotion to a Mexican female saint, la Santa Muerte (Saint Death, a controversial figure traditionally attached to the masculine world of narco-traffickers), it considers the intimate as modalities of devotion enacted by the devotees to care for their saintly images through gestures of love and proximity. This care is often expressed through touching the effigies of the saint, dressing them, and pampering them through multiple little acts akin to motherly love. Observing these modes of intimacy through photography reveals that devotees perform these same caring actions regardless of gender. Proposing that the value of photography as an ethnographic tool to document phenomena encountered in the field lies in its capacity to produce insights at different levels of analysis, this paper posits visual methodology as a tool to reckon with the very category of gender. In doing so, it argues that intimate devotion can be visually detected to generate a multifaceted understanding of the constructions of femininity and masculinity in Oaxaca understood as a lived reality. Ultimately, looking at devotional intimacy through photographs opens a window onto the complex linkages between the anthropologist and her informants while it illuminates the value of visual material in uncovering the fluidity of gendered practices.
Paper short abstract:
Based on digital ethnographic work, this talk shall explore how 'Mumpreneurs' strategically navigate competing tensions (eg home & work, brand & self, motherhood & business) through visual digital media.
Paper long abstract:
"Mumpreneur" is a portmanteau of 'mum' and 'entrepreneur' often used to describe women with children who start up small-medium, frequently home-based, businesses. Mumpreneurship seems an attractive prospect for many working mothers due to the supposed flexibility and convenience afforded by running a business from home. For many mumpreneurs, however, the experience is far from ideal, with many returning to the traditional workforce in some capacity. Based on ethnographic work incorporating both traditional and digital field methods, this talk will discuss the multifaceted performance of mumpreneurship on visual social media platforms, particularly Instagram and Facebook. Through pictures, short videos and #inspo posts, entrepreneurial mothers navigate the tensions between 'motherhood & business', 'work & home' as well as 'brand & self'. The choice of when, where and what to post belies a complicated interplay between 'cohesive brand narrative' and 'authentic self-expression'. Ultimately, the public expression of mumpreneurship is both multi-layered and strategic.
Paper short abstract:
Contrary to popular Western assumptions that take religious affiliation as the primary reason for Muslim women oppression, the women activists of JI Pakistan throw a light on an alternative reality that highlights women independence, rights, and freedom through their active participation in party.
Paper long abstract:
The role of women in shaping the political formation of Islamist parties in dominantly Muslim countries has significantly increased in recent years. There women play an important part by not only advocating their party's overall agenda in the wider political scene, but also by increasingly pushing for political demands to seek higher female representation as potential leaders within these parties. unfortunately, despite all their efforts for the progress of any Islamist party, Muslim women have been marginalized in general and their struggle has been unacknowledged most of the time. Based on ethnographic fieldwork with the women members of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan,I have found that there is a general upward trend in women's membership in Jamaat and I attempted to understand why would women join such parties that will eventually limit their freedom and borderline them. I also support my point by relying on audio visual material from my ethnography as well as some secondary material from the Internet, blogs, and social media websites.