When the personal becomes research: Reflections on fieldwork in Kashmir

Br�nnlund, Emma

Abstract

Fieldwork is a personal and embodied act. Intersectional positionalities of gender, race, class, and location inform the relationship between the researcher and participants in the field. This relationship is not necessarily constituted by the binaries of “insider” versus “outsider,” but the nature of fieldwork often invites the researcher to enter “inside” (Ackerley, Stern and True, 2006), particularly if the researcher spends long periods of time at the research location or “returns home” (Sultana, 2007, p. 377).

In this paper I present some reflections on my fieldwork in the Kashmir Valley in northern India. I travelled to Kashmir to explore how women activists experienced security in the midst of multiple, long term conflicts: a geopolitical rivalry between India and Pakistan, as well as a local independence struggle against Indian rule. Taking a feminist approach to research ethics, I reflect on my experience inside Kashmir as an outsider, with specific focus on intersectional positionalities and their impact on relationships in the field

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Ethnography and Cross-Cultural Research Workshop
• Start Date: Apr 25, 2018
• End Date: Apr 25, 2018
• Acceptance Date: Apr 25, 2018
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/869041
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : Ethnography and Cross-Cultural Research Workshop