Research as a Practice of Solidarity? On a Feminist Research Process with Syrian Women with Refugee Experience in Lebanon
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8069.20.4.08Keywords:
feminist research, activist research, refugee women, Syrian women, grassroots organizingAbstract
This article is the result of a methodological reflection on conducting ethnographic research with women with experience of exile. It is based on more than 5 years of ethnography carried out with Syrian women in Lebanon, following feminist and activist approaches. The article aims to address the question of whether and how sociological research can be an element of observed change and the practice of solidarity. The reflection is grounded in theoretical inspirations and ongoing debates on participatory approaches to action and research with hitherto marginalized persons, with a particular focus on women from the Global South and refugee women, which inspired the choice of the research topic and directed specific methodological paths. Examining the components of the research process, I view it as a practice of solidarity (following the typology suggested by Louise Lamphere) and explore the dilemmas associated with this type of engagement and the implementation of feminist activist research.
Downloads
References
AbiYaghi Marie-Noëlle (2020), The People Want… Social Justice! The October 2019 Social Movement and the Impact of Aid Politics in Lebanon, „The Public Source”, https://thepublicsource.org/aid-politics-lebanon [dostęp: 12.05.2022].
Google Scholar
Adada Hani (2020), Labor in Lebanon: Between Racism and Capitalist Exploitation, „The Public Source”, https://thepublicsource.org/labor-lebanon-racism-capitalist-exploitation [dostęp: 31.01.2022].
Google Scholar
Ahmed Sara (2017), Living a feminist life, Durham–London: Duke University Press.
Google Scholar
Al-Abdeh Maria, Patel Champa (2019), ‘Localising’ humanitarian action: reflections on delivering women’s rights-based and feminist services in an ongoing crisis, „Gender & Development”, vol. 27(2), s. 237–252, https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2019.1615280
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2019.1615280
Ali Zahra (2018), Women and gender in Iraq: between nation-building and fragmentation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108120517
Bednarczyk Anna, Hajdarowicz Inga (2017), Why does democracy need participation? Participatory budgeting in Medellin, Colombia and Krakow, Poland, [w:] Magdalena Góra, Catherine Holst, Marta Warat (red.), Expertisation and Democracy in Europe, London: Routledge, s. 192–212.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315268033-11
Butler Judith (2016), Rethinking vulnerability and resistance, [w:] Judith Butler, Zeynep Gambetti, Leticia Sabsay (red.), Vulnerability in Resistance, Durham: Duke University Press, pp. 12–27.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11vc78r.6
Charmaz Kathy, Belgrave Linda Liska (2019), Thinking about data with grounded theory, „Qualitative Inquiry”, vol. 25(8), s. 743–753.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800418809455
Chatzipanagiotidou Evropi, Murphy Fiona (2022), Exhibiting Displacement: Refugee Art, Methodological Dubiety, and the Responsibility (Not) to Document Loss, [w:] Katarzyna Grabska, Christina Clark-Kazak (red.), Documenting displacement: questioning methodological boundaries in forced migration research, Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, s. 81–105.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780228009498-006
Clark-Kazak Christina (2023), “Why Care Now” in Forced Migration Research? Imagining a Radical Feminist Ethics of Care, „ACME”, vol. 22(4), s. 1151–1173, https://doi.org/10.7202/1106679ar
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1106679ar
Collins Patricia Hill (2015), Intersectionality’s Definitional Dilemmas, „Annual Review of Sociology”, vol. 41(1), s. 1–20, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-073014-112142
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-073014-112142
Cornwall Andrea, Goetz Anne Marie (2005), Democratizing democracy: Feminist perspectives, „Democratization”, vol. 12(5), s. 783–800
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13510340500322181
Craven Christa, Davis Dána-Ain (2013), Introduction. Feminist activist ethnography, [w:] Christa Craven, Dána-Ain Davis (red.), Feminist Activist Ethnography: Counterpoints to Neoliberalism in North America, Lanham: Lexington Books, s. 14–31.
Google Scholar
Davis Dána-Ain (2013), Border crossings: intimacy and feminist activist ethnography in the age of neoliberalism, [w:] Christa Craven, Dána-Ain Davis (red.), Feminist Activist Ethnography: Counterpoints to Neoliberalism in North America, Lanham: Lexington Books, s. 33–46.
Google Scholar
Davis Dána-Ain, Craven Christa (2016), Feminist ethnography: thinking through methodologies, challenges, and possibilities, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Google Scholar
Daynes Sarah, Williams Terry (2018), On ethnography, Cambridge–Medford: Polity Press.
Google Scholar
De Jong Sara (2017), Complicit sisters: gender and women’s issues across North–South divides, New York: Oxford University Press.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190626563.001.0001
Dreyer Maretha (2022), Years in the Waiting Room, [w:] Luce Beeckmans, Alessandra Gola, Ashika Singh, Hilde Heynen (red.), Making Home(s) in Displacement, Critical Reflections on a Spatial Practice, Leuven: Leuven University Press, s. 197–218.
Google Scholar
Eapen Rebecca, Kannan Sweta Madhuri (2022), Forced displacement: reflecting on women’s lived realities, [w:] ActionAid Association (red.), Women Refugee Voices from Asia and Africa. Travelling for Safety, London: Routledge India, s. 12–20.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003047094-3
Fawaz Mona, Gharbieh Ahmad, Harb Mona, Salamé Dounia (red.) (2018), Refugees as city-makers, Beirut: Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, American University of Beirut.
Google Scholar
Ford Alberto (2010), Variations and effects of experimental democracy, [w:] Elizabeth Pinnington, Daniel Schugurensky (red.), Learning Citizenship by Practicing Democracy: International Initiatives and Perspectives, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, s. 252–268.
Google Scholar
Fox Alison, Baker Sally, Charitonos Koula, Jack Victoria, Moser-Mercer Barbara (2020), Ethics-in-practice in fragile contexts: Research in education for displaced persons, refugees and asylum seekers, „British Educational Research Journal”, vol. 46(4), s. 829–47.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3618
Freire Paulo (2000), Pedagogy of the oppressed. 30th anniversary ed., New York: Continuum.
Google Scholar
Fung Archon, Wright Erik Olin (2001), Deepening democracy: innovations in empowered participatory governance, „Politics & Society”, vol. 29, s. 5–41.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0032329201029001002
Grabska Katarzyna (2022), In whose voice? and for whom?: collaborative filming and narratives of forced migration, [w:] Katarzyna Grabska, Christina Clark-Kazak (red.), Documenting displacement: questioning methodological boundaries in forced migration research, Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, s. 201–223.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780228009498-011
Grabska Katarzyna, Clark-Kazak Christina (2022), Introduction: Documenting Displacement beyond Methodological and Ethical Boundaries, [w:] Katarzyna Grabska, Christina Clark-Kazak (red.), Documenting displacement: questioning methodological boundaries in forced migration research, Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, s. 3–21.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780228009498
Hajdukowski-Ahmed Maroussia, Khanlou Nazilla, Moussa Helene (2009), Introduction, [w:] Maroussia Hajdukowski-Ahmed, Nazilla Khanlou, Helene Moussa (red.), Not Born a Refugee Woman, Contesting Identities, Rethinking Practices, New York–Oxford: Berghahn Books, s. 1–24.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3167/9781845454975
Hale Charles R. (2008), Introduction, [w:] Charles R. Hale (red.), Engaging Contradictions, Theory, Politics, and Methods of Activist Scholarship, Berkeley–Los Angeles–London: University of California Press, s. 1–28.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520916173-004
Hooks Bell (1994), Teaching to transgress, New York: Routledge.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/para.1994.17.3.270
Indra Doreen (2008), Not a “Room of One’s Own”: Engendering Forced Migration Knowledge and Practice, [w:] Doreen Indra (red.), Engendering Forced Migration: Theory and Practice, New York–Oxford: Berghahn Books, s. 1–22.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781782381594-005
Jenkins Katy, Narayanaswamy Lata, Sweetman Caroline (2019), Introduction: Feminist values in research, „Gender & Development”, vol. 27(3), s. 415–425, https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2019.1682311
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2019.1682311
Kagal Neha, Latchford Lia (2020), Towards an intersectional praxis in international development: what can the sector learn from Black feminists located in the global North?, „Gender & Development”, vol. 28(1), s. 11–30, https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2020.1717179
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2020.1717179
Kahn Leora, Fábos Anita H. (2017), Witnessing and Disrupting: The Ethics of Working with Testimony for Refugee Advocacy, „Journal of Human Rights Practice”, vol. 9(3), s. 526–533, https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/hux036
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/hux036
Kostka Joanna, Czarnota Katarzyna (2017), Modes of knowledge production in the study of radical urban movements, „Interface: A Journal for and about Social Movements”, vol. 9(1), s. 368–88.
Google Scholar
Kowalska Beata (2012), O metodologii feministycznej ogólnie i osobiście, „Studia Humanistyczne AGH”, vol. 2(11), s. 69–80.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7494/human.2012.11.2.69
Lafrenière Julie, Sweetman Caroline, Thylin Theresia (2019), Introduction: gender, humanitarian action and crisis response, „Gender & Development”, vol. 27(2), s. 187–201, https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2019.1634332
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2019.1634332
Lamphere Louise (2016), Feminist anthropology engages social movements: theory, ethnography, and activism, [w:] Ellen Lewin, Leni M. Silverstein (red.), Mapping Feminist Anthropology in the Twenty-First Century, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, s. 41–64.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813574318-004
Lokot Michelle (2019), The space between us: feminist values and humanitarian power dynamics in research with refugees, „Gender & Development”, vol. 27(3), s. 467–484, https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2019.1664046
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2019.1664046
Lykke Nina (2010), Feminist Studies: A Guide to Intersectional Theory, Methodology and Writing, New York: Routledge.
Google Scholar
Mackenzie Catriona, McDowell Christopher, Pittaway Eileen (2007), Beyond ‘Do No Harm’: The Challenge of Constructing Ethical Relationships in Refugee Research, „Journal of Refugee Studies”, vol. 20(2), s. 299–319, https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fem008
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fem008
Majewska Ewa (2018), Kontrpubliczności ludowe i feministyczne. Wczesna „Solidarność” i czarne protesty, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Książka i Prasa.
Google Scholar
Manning Jennifer (2016), Constructing a postcolonial feminist ethnography, „Journal of Organizational Ethnography”, vol. 5, s. 90–105.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JOE-01-2016-0002
Martin Susan Forbes (2004), Refugee women, Lanham: Lexington Books.
Google Scholar
Mendez Jennifer Bickham (2008), Globalizing scholar activism: opportunities and dilemmas through a feminist lens, [w:] Charles R. Hale (red.), Engaging Contradictions, Theory, Politics, and Methods of Activist Scholarship, Berkeley–Los Angeles–London: University of California Press, s. 136–163.
Google Scholar
Moghadam Valentine M. (2005), Globalizing women: transnational feminist networks, Baltimore–London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Google Scholar
Mohanty Chandra Talpade (2003), “Under Western eyes” revisited: feminist solidarity through anticapitalist struggles, [w:] Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Feminism without Borders, Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity, Durham: Duke University Press, s. 221–252.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11smp7t.13
Mucha Janusz (2017), Rola socjologii i socjologów we współczesnym społeczeństwie, „Studia Socjologiczne”, vol. 224(1), s. 331–338.
Google Scholar
Nabudere Dani Wadada (2008), Research, activism, and knowledge production, [w:] Charles R. Hale (red.), Engaging Contradictions, Theory, Politics, and Methods of Activist Scholarship, Berkeley–Los Angeles–London: University of California Press, s. 62–87.
Google Scholar
Olivius Elisabeth (2014), Governing refugees through gender equality. Care, control, emancipation, Umea: Umea Universitet.
Google Scholar
Pearce Jenny (red.) (2010), Participation and democracy in the twenty-first century city, Basingstoke–Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230277342
Pillow Wanda S., Mayo Cris (2012), Feminist ethnography: histories, challenges, and possibilities, [w:] Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber (red.), Handbook of Feminist Research: Theory and Praxis, Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, s. 187–205.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483384740.n10
Pittaway Eileen, Bartolomei Linda, Hugman Richard (2010), ‘Stop Stealing Our Stories’: The Ethics of Research with Vulnerable Groups, „Journal of Human Rights Practice”, vol. 2(2), s. 229–251, https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huq004
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huq004
Porta Donatella della (2014), Life Histories, [w:] Donatella della Porta (red.) Methodological Practices in Social Movement Research, Oxford: Oxford University Press, s. 262–288.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198719571.003.0011
Sagaris Lake (2010), Learning democratic citizenship: neighbourhoods as key places for practicing participatory democracy, [w:] Elizabeth Pinnington, Daniel Schugurensky (red.), Learning Citizenship by Practicing Democracy: International Initiatives and Perspectives, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, s. 204–226.
Google Scholar
Salem Sara (2014), Decolonial Intersectionality and a Transnational Feminist Movement – the Feminist Wire, https://thefeministwire.com/2014/04/decolonial-intersectionality/ [dostęp: 3.06.2021].
Google Scholar
Sánchez Isabel Gutiérrez (2021), Infrastructures from Below: Self-Reproduction and Common Struggle in and Beyond Athens in Crisis, [w:] Angelika Gabauer, Sabine Knierbein, Nir Cohen, Henrik Lebuhn, Kim Trogal, Tihomir Viderman, Tigran Haas (red.), Care and the City, New York: Routledge, s. 3–14.
Google Scholar
Shandilya Divita, Chachra Sandeep (2022), Introduction, [w:] ActionAid Association (red.), Women Refugee Voices from Asia and Africa. Travelling for Safety, London: Routledge India, s. 3–11.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003047094-2
Speed Shannon (2008), Forged in Dialogue: toward a critically engaged activist research, [w:] Charles R. Hale (red.), Engaging Contradictions, Theory, Politics, and Methods of Activist Scholarship, Berkeley–Los Angeles–London: University of California Press, s. 213–236.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520916173-012
Stoetzler Marcel, Yuval-Davis Nira (2002), Standpoint theory, situated knowledge and the situated imagination, „Feminist Theory”, vol. 3(3), s. 315–333, https://doi.org/10.1177/146470002762492024
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/146470002762492024
Taha Dina (2022), Critical Reflexivity and Decolonizing Narrative: Reflections from the Field, [w:] Katarzyna Grabska, Christina Clark-Kazak (red.), Documenting displacement: questioning methodological boundaries in forced migration research, Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, s. 56–80.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780228009498-005
Tang Shirley Suet-ling (2008), Community-centered research as knowledge/capacity building in immigrant and refugee communities, [w:] Charles R. Hale (red.), Engaging Contradictions, Theory, Politics, and Methods of Activist Scholarship, Berkeley–Los Angeles–London: University of California Press, s. 237–264.
Google Scholar
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520916173-013
UNHCR UNICEF WFP (2021), 2021 Vulnerability Assessment for Syrian Refugees in Lebanon (VASyR), https://data.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/90589 [dostęp: 14.04.2022].
Google Scholar
Wyka Anna (1993), Badacz społeczny wobec doświadczenia, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Instytutu Filozofii i Socjologii PAN.
Google Scholar
Yuval-Davis Nira (2003), Nationalist projects and gender relations, „Narodna umjetnost. Chroatian Journal of Ethnology and Folklore Research”, vol. 40(1), s. 9–36.
Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
Versions
- 2025-01-10 (2)
- 2024-11-30 (1)
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
