Embodying Gender, Age, Ethnicity and Power in ‘the Field’: Reflections on Dress and the Presentation of the Self in Research with Older Pakistani Muslims

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in researching people growing older in the South Asian ethnic minority communities in the UK. However, these populations have received comparatively little attention in wide-ranging discussions on culturally and socially appropriate research methodologies. In this paper, we draw on the experiences of a young female Pakistani Muslim researcher researching older Pakistani Muslim women and men, to explore the significance of gender, age and ethnicity to fieldwork processes and ‘field’ relationships. In particular, we highlight the significance of dress and specific presentations of the embodied self within the research process. We do so by focusing upon three key issues: (1) Insider/Outsider boundaries and how these boundaries are continuously and actively negotiated in the field through the use of dress and specific presentations of the embodied ‘self’; (2) The links between gender, age and space - more specifically, how the researcher's use of traditional Pakistani dress, and her differing research relationships, are influenced by the older Pakistani Muslim participants’ gendered use of public and private space; and (3) The opportunities and vulnerabilities experienced by the researcher in the field, reinforced by her use (or otherwise) of the traditional and feminine Pakistani Muslim dress. Our research therefore highlights the role of different presentations of the embodied ‘self’ to fieldwork processes and relationships, and illustrates how age, gender and status intersect to produce fluctuating insider/outsider boundaries as well as different opportunities and experiences of power and vulnerability within research relationships.

Negotiating Constructions of Insider and Outsider Status in Research with Veiled Muslim Women Victims of Islamophobic Hate Crime

“…The fluid, multiple, intersectional and context-dependant nature of identities means that in reality a researcher may hold multiple and shifting identities and positionalities in the field, as opposed to being a total 'insider' or a complete 'outsider' (Zubair et al 2012). As Corbin-Dwyer and Buckle (2009: 60) point out 'The notion of the space between challenges the dichotomy of insider versus outsider status.…”

“…Researchers' bodily appearances and bodily actions, adaptations and interactions are important markers of their identity in the fieldwork (Zubair et al 2012). Participants may perceive and judge researchers either positively or negatively and/or as insiders or outsiders based on their embodied identity (Ellingson 2006).…”

The fragility of “white Irish” as a minority ethnic identity in England

“…Zubair, a firstgeneration Pakistani Muslim, describes using clothing with an intention to fit the expectations of different types of Pakistani participants in the UK, e.g. wearing a scarf around her neck rather than covering her head with participants who expected her to be modern, and wearing a headscarf when recruiting participants at mosques (Zubair, Martin, and Victor 2012). Here, Zubair uses clothing as part of her performance of an 'appropriate' Pakistani Muslim in the UK, and varies her personal front with each audience so that her performance is acceptable.…”

The complexities of ‘otherness’: reflections on embodiment of a young White British woman engaged in cross-generation research involving older people in Indonesia

“…While acknowledging the importance of such studies and the potential utility of matching, critics argue that the focus on single attributes potentially masks the interplay of different identities and the shifting nature of these identities within emerging and developing relationships (Sharma, Reimer-Kirkham and Cochrane 2009 ; Turner and Norwood 2013 ). Indeed, in the field of ageing and ethnicity, studies have illustrated the complexity of ethnic and gender matching and how assumptions of ‘sameness’ or ‘difference’ between researcher and participant cannot be accounted for within a single category (Wray and Batholomew 2010 ; Zubair, Martin and Victor 2012 a , 2012 b ). Focus is drawn to the collaborative, intersubjective nature of the interview process and outcome and intersectionality of both participant and researcher (Ben-Ari and Enoush 2013 ; Ellis and Berger 2003 ; Jones 2006 ).…”

“…In the field of ageing and ethnicity such engagement has been very limited, but studies have served to highlight the complexity and fluctuating nature of embodiment and its influence on the research process and resultant data produced (Higgins 1998 ; Zubair, Martin and Victor 2012 a , 2012 b ). These studies detail the need to consider not just ethnicity or age or gender, for example, but how these characteristics are interpreted, modified and interplay with both the physical and social context of the individuals involved at specific moments in time.…”