Introduction Feminist Research Method to Communication Study
Introduction Feminism encompasses diverse frameworks, ideologies, attitudes, and analyses of the political, economic, and social inequalities between women and men. In this pluralistic context, the need for diversity in research methods would seem as obvious as the conclusion that any method that can be used on behalf of women's rights and interests is by definition a potential feminist tool. Useful traditional methods may be used for answering cer certain tain kinds of important feminist questions. et et other questions need to be addressed!questions about women's lived experiences, how we think about our lives and ourselves, about the meanings of events and relationships in our lives, and how we differ in our constructions and interactions in the world. "uch questions simply cannot be answered with old#fashioned methods. "o the search is on to identify and develop the methods we need to answer them. Feminists will continue to debate the merits of various methodological approaches for answering different questions. $owever, as for the fundamental knowledge about feminist research, the following may be of some value. Feminist %esearch &ackground Schools of Feminist Thought •
iberal Feminism (can be overlapped, but have to be classified)
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%adical Feminism (Ideological-arxist Feminism)
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/roduction of knowledge is mediated by situated con+unctions of class, gender, racial, ethnic, and sexual identities* women's positioned knowledge is particularly effective in destabiliing oppressive institutions.
/ost#"tructuralist /ost#-odern Feminism
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inks female oppression to the material conditions of social organiation created by capitalist political economy.
"tandpoint Feminism
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"eeks the inclusion of women in rights and benefits traditionally afforded to men* traditionally through +uridical means.
0econstructs language and discourse to understand how gendered identities are developed as both a practical and political process.
1cofeminism
inks gender#based oppression to institutions that exploit and destroy other non#human life forms and environments.
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Feminist Research as a Method Feminism is a perspective, not a research method, so it is could use a multiplicity of research methods. 2t the same time, we need realied that, Feminism not all feminist social research is innovative with regard to method For feminist researchers who do not follow 3rigorous3 scientific procedures, the feminist spirit is one of breaking free of methodological traditions Qualitative Methods in Feminist Research •
Feminists hold that since the production of knowledge is an act of power, researchers and their participants should ideally be equal partners in that process. 4he bias in qualitative qualita tive (and particularly, ethnographic) methods toward developing intimate, cooperative, and accountable research relationships serves this goal
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Feminist researchers generally re+ect ob+ectivist premises that have historically contributed to the suppression of women's voice under the guise of scientific rationality and detachment
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5ualitative research potentially serves feminists grappling with the complex politics of diversity
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Feminist researchers are sensitive to the ways that all forms of research may be affected by the corrosive forces of sexism, racism, homophobia, and class discrimination
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Feminists hold that since data is produced in the context of a relationship, it should be recorded and interpreted accordingly.
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Feminist commitments dramatically influence the form of qualitative research narratives
What is Feminist Research? Res earch? •
Involves an ongoing criticism of nonfeminist scholarship
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Is guided by feminist theory
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-ay be transdisciplinary
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2ims to create social change
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"trives to represent human diversity
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Frequently includes the researcher as a research sub+ect and tool
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Frequently attempts to develop special relations with the people studied (in interactive research)
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Frequently defines a special relation with the reader
5. What Does a Feminist Method Look Like? •
6arrying messages that challenge claims by those who occupy privileged positions
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1ngaging in feminist theory and praxis means to challenge knowledge that excludes while seeming includes
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istening to the experiences of 3the others3 as legitimate knowledge
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"haring some common angles of vision that are 3connected in principle to feminist struggle,3 often with the intent to change the basic structures of oppression
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1ngaging both theory and practice of research##beginning with the formulation of the research question and ending with the reporting of research findings
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0econstructing what they perceive as errors, or examples of androcentrism, across a range of academic disciplines and professional fields
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7ot necessarily embracing the practices of a positivist mode of inquiry, but positivism is not the enemy of all feminist inquiry
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Feminists go to the heart of some foundational questions, namely, who can know8 9hat can be known8
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:nowledge is achieved not through 3correcting3 mainstream research studies by adding women, but through paying attention to the specificity and uniqueness of women's lives and experiences
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;b+ectivity should be transformed into 3feminist ob+ectivity3###knowledge and truth are partial, situated, sub+ective, power imbued, and relational. 4he denial of values, biases, and politics is seen as unrealistic and undesirable Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths:
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Feminist research promotes an intersectional lens, leading to richer data. Feminist research requires practitioners to think about the ways sub+ects are composed of various identities and the ways these identities contribute to how one experiences the world. 9ith this in mind, promoting an intersectional lens means crafting research that is sub+ect specific that eschews sweeping generaliations and assumptions. Feminist research allows for the study of minorities populations. &y its very nature, feminist research tra+ectories focus on those most socially vulnerable. 9hile women have historically constituted the impetus for feminist agendas, as a discourse feminism is about magnifying those left out of white male patriarchal paradigms and this extends beyond gender. Feminism creates a discourse in which women in particular create their own narratives. Feminist research seeks to include the perspectives of women in particular in male dominated social science research pro+ects. 4his means both women researchers and sub+ects. -any who partake in feminist research are specifically looking to challenge patriarchy and gender oppression. 1nhances researcher is reflexivity. Feminist research asks practitioners to examine their relationships to their pro+ects and to the sub+ects and ideas they analye. It suggests that researchers be mindful of their impact and influence on their studies. 2s a concept, feminism has evolved to encompass the day#to#day reality of sub+ects. "o feminism allow research thinks about material conditions. 4his means that feminism often connects a sub+ect
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imagined to be a critique of only gender and sex oppression because it is imagined only in its 9e 9estern stern iteration. Key Practitioners F Susan J. Douglas. 0ouglas is best known for her work on postfeminist media studies. "he draws from her position as a mother to inquire how the media incorrectly portrays women. Using standpoint theory, she formulates the conclusion that the media creates an illusion that women today are =equal> when in reality, this is far from the case. 9orks 9orks of hers include? 1nlightened "exism (@ABA), 4he -ommy -yth (@AAC), and 9here the Dirls 2re (BEE). Angela McRobbie. -c%obbie is a canonical scholar in cultural studies and is best known for her work on postfeminism postfeminism and fashion. $er piece entitled =/ostfeminism and /opular 6ulture> is the most read article in Feminist -edia "tudies. $er previous studies use interviewing techniques to interview photographers and editors in the fashion industry. "he found during her conversations, that often editors would identify as feminists but vehemently argue that airbrushing, dieting, body policing are important for a women explores how communicative practices online shape power. 2lthough 2lthough her background is in the $umanities, her current work interviewed gamers about their practices and identities.
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9ood is a prominent scholars s cholars in 6ommunication "tudies. $er Julia Wood Wood. Gulia 9ood work on gender and communication is used in many classrooms across the country. 9oodpersonal experience> as evidence. 2s well as emphasied how to use personal experience as evidence in feminist research. Denerally, personal experience is an individual (Foss Foss, BEE, p. JE). &ut for the feminist scholars, personal experience is a woman as evidence is a complex process. &ecause they think =personal experience> is a multiplicity of truths and values diversity is not possible with many other kinds of evidence. Feminist scholars emphasie the diversity of women
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constructions of self, to produces not only knowledge information about other is arises from contemporary ethnography specifically. &ut feminist ethnographers, question assumptions of traditional ethnography of =self and other>, such as the concepts of =first world> and =third world>. Feminist scholars try to develop a new form of ethnographic inquiry concerned with interrogating the power relation of =self and other>. ike the author discussed in her article,> new ethnographic possibilities from non#western experiences and from feminist theory and politics>(engel, BEEK, p. @JA). In the the fact, feminist and critical ethnography has a kind of =awkward relationship.> 9hile feminism questions the relationship of =self and other> in term of the bipolar opposition of men and women, critical ethnographic and anthropological works examine more board cross#cultural, sociopolitical hierarchical relationship (engel, BEEK, p. @JB). Feminist scholars approach multiplicity to look at the issue of women, they are criticiing the simple dichotomy of traditional criticism scholar
%eferences 6have, :., Driffin, 6. (@AB@). ( @AB@). Standing Standing in the intersection feminist voices" feminist #ractices in communication studies. studies. 2lbany? "U7 /ress. 0ouglas, ". (@ABA). $nlightened (@ABA). $nlightened se%ism: The seductive message that feminism&s 'ork is done. done. 7ew ork? 4imes &ooks. $esse#&iber, ". 7. (1d.) (@AB@). (and)ook (@AB@). (and)ook of Feminist Research: Research: Theory and Pra%is* Sage* Foss, :. 2. Foss, ". :. (BEE). Personal e%#erience as evidence in feminist scholarshi#.9e scholarshi#.9estern stern Gournal of 6ommunication, CK(B), JE#J. Gaggar, 2. (@AAK). +ust (@AAK). +ust methods: ,n interdisci#linary interdisci#linary feminist reader . &oulder, 6;? /aradigm. engel, . (BEEK). Researching (BEEK). Researching the -other.: Methodological considerations of feminist
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ethnogra#hy. ethnogra#hy. Gournal of 6ommunication Inquiry, @@(J), @@(J), @@E#@CA indlof, 4. %., 4aylor, &. 6. (@ABB). Qualitative /ommunication Research Methods. Methods . (Jrd ed.).4housand ;aks, 2? "2D1 /ublications, Inc. 7akamura, . (@AAK). 0igiti!ing (@AAK). 0igiti!ing race visual cultures of the 1nternet . -inneapolis? University of -innesota /ress. %usso, 7. F. (BEEE). Feminist (BEEE). Feminist Research: Questions and Methods Methods.. /sychology of 9omen 5uarterly,@J. i#iv. "arikakis, :., %ush, %. %., Drubb#"wetnam, 2., and ane, 6. Feminist 4heory and %esearch. 1n %esearch. 1n ,n 1ntegrated ,##roach ,##roach to /ommunication Theory and Research. Research . "econd 1dition. (1ds.)(@AAE). "tacks, 0. 9. and "alwen, -. &. -ahwah, 7.G? 1rlbaum. "home, %. (@AB). 0iana (@AB). 0iana and )eyond: White White femininity" national national identity" and contem#orary media culture. culture. Urbana#6hampaign? University of Illinois /ress. "tabile. 6. (@AB). 21 Will 3'n 4ou: 4ou: ,ccounta)ility in Massively Massiv ely Multi#layer 3nline 5ames"6 Television Television and 7e' Media, Media, BC(B), J#CH 9ood, G. (BEE). 5endered lives: /ommunication" gender" and culture* 8elmont" /alif*?9adsworth /alif*?9adsworth /ub.
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