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Accepted Paper:

Feminism and/in the field: ethnographic reflections from North Carolina  
Skyler Hawkins (The University of Manchester)

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.

Panel P33
Gender, research and evaluating 'value': the impact of/in ethnography with visual materials
  Session 1 Monday 2 December, 2019, -