Women, Conflict and the Everyday: Feminist Ethnographies in Palestine and Kurdistan

One of the core principles in feminist research is its aim to link research to emancipatory practices. Most feminist scholars today agree there is not one specific method that characterises feminist research. Rather, feminist research has defined itself largely through the challenges it launches against the epistemology of traditional science on various levels: methodologically, ethically as well as – importantly – politically. What unites feminist research across these varieties thus is its wish to affect and transform social and political realities. Feminist research should help to combat not only gendered dis-crimination, but all forms of oppression whether based on class, race, sexuality, ethnicity, or other factors. It should aim at transforming women’s (and men’s) lives and contribute towards achieving social justice. Feminist research thus is acutely aware of its political impact and, as such, demands a critical self-reflexive stance from the researcher at all stages of the research process.