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Contribution short abstract

Conducting doctoral fieldwork with my one-year-old son offered insight into the gendered dimensions of research. Rather than impeding my progress, I found that his presence normalized my work and created rapport, shaping my research relations with local women.

Contribution long abstract

The most common question I received when attending mosque classes for participant observation was not “How is your research going?” but rather “How is your son?” During fifteen months of doctoral fieldwork, my primary research assistant was my son, who lived with me in the field from the ages of one to two. While often treated as a marginal concern, bringing my child to the field was not only a logistical reality but an ethnographic benefit: it facilitated rapport, normalized my presence, and shaped my positionality as a female researcher.

As an American married into a Moroccan family and conducting fieldwork in my mother-in-law’s city, bringing my son to field sites drew attention to the gendered dimensions of conducting fieldwork. While my status as a working mother may have been off-putting to some interlocutors, visibly caring for my son allowed me to demonstrate adherence to local gender norms and establish common ground with other women. Conversations about religious life often followed child-rearing advice, situating my research in the context of local motherhood.

More broadly, navigating religious media, particularly television and radio fatwa programs, amid the din of dinosaur play or while cooking dinner provided insight into the consumption of Islamic guidance in domestic contexts. Ultimately, my son’s presence underscored the role of accompanying children in actively shaping fieldwork experiences, allowing me to demystify and normalize my presence in places where a participant observer would seem out of place.