Description

This paper draws from the author's own experience as a first-time fieldworker, and from Donna Haraway's writing on feminist knowledge making, to discuss feminist research in development studies as a necessarily political endeavour. Researcher neutrality in feminist fieldwork is neither possible nor desirable. However, a politically engaged approach to observation-based research entails risks and limitations rarely addressed in research methods courses. These are explored with reference to the author's research on seasonal labour migration and debt bondage in rural central India. This article is hosted by our co-publisher Taylor & Francis. For the full table of contents for this and previous issues of this journal, please visit the <a href="http://www.genderanddevelopment.org">Gender and Development</a> website.