Challenging Scientific Objectivity: Feminist Positioning Through the Lens of a Kurdish Activist “Insider” Researcher

Yıl 2024, Cilt: 16 Sayı: 2, 264 - 300, 15.12.2024

Münevver Azizoglu-bazan

https://doi.org/10.46655/federgi.1288852

Öz

Feminist research processes have demonstrated that scientific research cannot be considered independent of the researcher’s interests, desires, needs, and fears. Accordingly, in addition to the research questions, the impact of the researcher’s subjectivity and personal experiences on the research process transformed to be positioned as too important to be ignored. Feminist research practice, as a methodological premise, redefines those being studied as “subjects” rather than “objects” and positions the researcher as “affected and positioned” rather than “objective and neutral.” This feminist positioning has direct implications for research. This study evaluates the methodological and conceptual framework of the research process in the light of feminist epistemology and discusses the effects of the subjectivity and reflexivity of the researcher on the field experiences and the data obtained.In this context, this article examines the (new) contexts, tensions, and affective dynamics that emerge in the relationship between the researcher and the research subject, as well as between the researcher and the participants. Drawing on experiences, observation protocols, and research journals from the fieldwork conducted for my doctoral study, which focused on the empowerment experiences of women activists within the Kurdish Women’s Movement in Germany, and explores the impact of these factors on the research process. Within this framework, the “third eye” metaphor stands out as a critical tool for understanding and making sense of the experiences of both the researcher and the participants.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Insider researcher, Kurdish Women, situated knowledge, partiality, concernment and self-reflexivity

İçeriden Kürt Aktivist Bir Araştırmacının Gözüyle Feminist Konumlanma: Bilimsel Objektiviteye Meydan Okuma

Öz

Feminist araştırma süreçleri bilimsel bir araştırmanın, araştırmacının ilgi, istek, ihtiyaç ve korkularından bağımsız olarak düşünülemeyeceğini açıklıkla ortaya koydu. Buna bağlı olarak araştırma sorularının yanı sıra araştırmacının öznelliğinin ve kişisel deneyimlerinin araştırma sürecine etkisinin göz ardı edilemeyecek denli önemli olduğu görüldü. Feminist araştırma, metodolojik öncül olarak araştırılan kişileri “nesne” değil, “özne” olarak; araştırmacıyı da “objektif ve tarafsız” değil, “etkilenen ve konumlanmış” olarak tanımlar. Bu feminist konumlandırmanın araştırmaya yansıyan doğrudan etkileri söz konusudur. Bu çalışma, araştırma sürecinin yöntemsel ve kavramsal çerçevesini feminist epistemoloji ışığında değerlendirerek araştırmacının öznelliği ve özdüşünümselliğinin, saha deneyimleri ve elde edilen veriler üzerindeki etkilerini tartışmaktadır. Makale Almanya’daki Kürt Kadın Hareketi’nde yer alan kadın aktivistlerin güçlenme deneyimlerini incelediğim doktora çalışmamın saha araştırması esnasında yaşadığım deneyimler, gözlem protokolleri ve araştırma günlüklerine dayanmaktadır. Bu bağlamda araştırmacı ile araştırma konusu, araştırmacı ile araştırılan arasındaki ilişkide ortaya çıkan (yeni) bağlamları, gerilimleri, duygulanımları ve bunların araştırmaya etkisini irdelemektedir. Bu çerçevede “üçüncü göz” metaforu, hem araştırmacının hem de katılımcıların deneyimlerinin anlaşılması ve anlamlandırılması açısından kritik bir araç olarak öne çıkmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

İçeriden araştırmacı, Kürt Kadın Hareketi, konumlandırılmış bilgi, taraflılık, duyarlılık ve özdüşünümsellik

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