The Standpoint of the Author as a Researcher

Summary

Ethnography and feminist methodologies and methods have become central in these studies. I acknowledge my personal areas of concern and interest as a researcher. I cannot isolate myself from these studies. I presented myself as a liberal-nationalist feminist, who grew up in an educated family in Pukhtunkhwa, as a daughter who went to school and completed her higher education with the support of her feminist-nationalist Baba (father), who encouraged her to escape the traditional roles of Pukhtun women. My Baba's extreme love and belief in me made me a woman of audacity and nerve. Thus, my research is based on my own life experiences that led me towards gender issues and social justice for Pukhtun women. It is interesting that as an author I share common goals and some common experiences to give voice to the unvoiced, and I positioned myself as an ‘in-between’ researcher:

meaning while we, the ‘in-between’ researchers, are originally women from a South Asian country with a Muslim majority, we have spent a considerable part of our lives in the West. While studying and living in the West has undoubtedly influenced our lives and perceptions, we still do not see ourselves as Western. This is a matter of conscious political choice as well because of the politics of the day which constantly remind us that we are not Western, such as the racial profiling at certain airports these days. (Pourzand, 2003: 23)

I further explained the in-between researcher position in this chapter to familiarise my readers with the use of this term in research. However, here I discuss how my story has a place in this book – who I am and where I am coming from – and how it has had a deep impact on the selection and development of my research questions, contexts and participants in both studies. As a researcher, I am well-placed to conduct these studies because of my own personal background, nationality, family heritage and gender. As I men-tioned, I grew up in this area, went to school and completed my MA degree at the University of Peshawar.