This paper presents the general background, guiding questions, and
proposed methodology for a potential research project. I could see myself doing this project as part
of my PhD program, but regardless of whether or not this specific methodology
is ever enacted, the process of writing this proposal has been a helpful one in
reflecting on the feminist epistemologies, methodologies, and fieldwork
dimensions I have encountered during my engagement with Anthropology 859:
Gender, Justice and Environmental Change: Methodology and Application in Spring
2012.
Introduction and Background
Friends of
the Earth Middle East, or FoEME (“foe-mee”) as it is lovingly called, was created
nearly twenty years ago as a joint project between Israel, Palestine, and
Jordan. Originally, its creator saw an
opportunity with the peace wrought by the Oslo Accords to start looking at
environmental sustainability. With the
breakdown of the peace process, though, this turned on its head: Environmental
sustainability projects were now a road to peace. FoEME now does a variety of educational,
advocacy, and sustainability projects focused on joint needs (wastewater
treatment, conservation of regional water sources, etc.).
FoEME’s
advocacy efforts in the policy realm have been notably successful. In one region, the organizaton’s activism
halted construction of Israel’s Security Barrier in a section that would have
cut off a peaceful Palestinian village from a nearby Israeli area,
neighborhoods that had been previously friendly. Rather than arguing on the basis of human
rights or illegal construction, FoEME argued against the construction on
ecological grounds based on the geography of water and land resources in the
area. Their argument won the day; the
Barrier has now been rerouted.
For Friends
of the Earth Middle East, “Peace is knowing the other.” Their programs avoid religious discourse
almost entirely, focusing instead on “environmental peacemaking. “Environmental Peacemaking is based on the
principle that our common dependency on natural resources and a healthy
environment facilitates cooperation between societies and nations and can
therefore foster the process of peacemaking in conflict regions. The concept of
environmental peacemaking (or environmental peacebuilding) draws upon the three
pillars of sustainable development: economic sustainability, socio-cultural
sustainability and ecological sustainability. Cross-border environmental
cooperation integrates the processes of economic and socio-cultural development
and societies benefit mutually from the common management of shared resources.
Furthermore, cooperation between societies offers a platform for ongoing
intercultural dialogue, enables a process of trust building and fosters the
establishment of peaceful cross-border societal linkages.”[1]
Concrete
achievements like the Barrier’s rerouting give clear data for the efficacy of
Friends of the Earth Middle East’s political environmental peacemaking
work. But the value and effects of
FoEME’s grassroots, educational programs are a little more difficult to
discernibly measure.
This is
precisely what this project aims to do. My
research questions ask 1) how involvement in international environmental projects
influence the perceptions of conflict for Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian
youth and their families, 2) how involvement in environmental activism changes
the perspectives of adults, 3) how environmental cooperation can encourage or
instigate other forms of cooperation, and 4) how these issues vary across age,
sex, gender, religion, nationality, and education.
These
questions are complex and lacking simple answers, but they are strongly
intertwined. Understanding these issues
has significant implications for the work of non-governmental organizations and
other advocacy networks, policies and government, international relations, and
peace and justice studies.
Epistemological Grounding
This
research is motivated by and grounded in feminist epistemology. This can mean many different things to
different people, but for me, a feminist approach to research revolves
primarily around leveling hierarchies between researched and researcher with a
strong focus on advocacy. This activist
bent reflects an understanding of knowledge as situated and partial. I do not believe that there is a capital “T”
“Truth” existent somewhere about the universe that we can fully know. As humans, limited, imperfect, and biased
creatures that we are, we cannot know the world in a way that is not dependent
on our own lived experiences and understanding.
Rather, we all have limited views of the world, partial truths and
embodied knowledges.
My
understanding of knowledge contains elements of both standpoint theory and
situated knowledges. I strongly agree
with Sandra Harding’s critique of empirically based epistemologies, as buying
into empiricism implicitly (if not explicitly) supports supposedly value-neutral
research, pretending that politics and culture do not matter and claiming the
existence of a truth that is for all time.
Like Harding, I support the idea of historical relativism, the conception
that truth changes over time. Though I
prefer not to use the language of “objectivity” at all, because I believe it
comes with too many problematic connotations, I do appreciate the perspective
behind Harding’s notion of “strong objectivity,” based on the idea that there
is a multiplicity of truths and that all knowledge is politically and socially
located. This idea of “strong
objectivity” is the basis for standpoint theory. Standpoint theory asserts that knowledge
comes from different positions in a stratified society. For example, a white woman has vastly
different knowledge and perspectives than a black man. An academic geologist and a gold miner have
different understandings of the same environment phenomenon. I agree with Harding’s assertion that different
forms of knowledge have been valued differently by society. Particularly through science, the standpoints
of the majority group have been preferred.
Harding privileges the standpoints of marginalized, believing they have
a special strength as they can point to specific weaknesses in mainstream
knowledge creation and do not have a vested interest in the status quo.
The
epistemology of “situated knowledges” by Haraway has much in common with
standpoint theory. The “god trick” is
used to critique traditional notions of objectivity; this is perhaps what I
identify with most in situated knowledges.
By claiming unsituated knowledge, scientists portray themselves as
somehow above and beyond the world, holders of a Truth that comes from outside
the world. Science presents itself as
timeless and speaking from no location. But
this is impossible. People are people
and, as such, are situated politically, culturally, socially, etc. at every
moment in time. The biggest difference
between situated knowledges and standpoint theory is Haraway’s assertion of the
necessity of having multiple partial knowledges present at the table. The marginalized should be there, yes, but so
should everyone else. For proponents of
situated knowledge, standpoint theory runs the risk of romanticizing the poor;
I agree with this strongly. But Haraway,
as well, uses the language of “objectivity,” arguing that we should see
objectivity not as disengagement but about the recognition of mutual and
unequal structuring.
Traditional
objectivity is, I believe, misguided, and I will not use such language in
formulating this research project.
Rather, this research is based on a view of the world that recognizes
and values the multiplicity of knowledges, the many ways humans can “know”
something.
The Roles and Goals of Research as a Feminist
My identity
as a feminist does not impact only my understanding of knowledge, but also my
understanding of the roles and goals of research and the most appropriate and
effective methodologies. As a feminist,
I have formulated many principles of research that are important to me based on
the writings and theories of scholars such as Reinharz[2], Harding,[3] Kirsch,[4] and de
Vault.[5] The following personal principles of research
are listed in no particular order.
1. Research should critique and add to previous scholarship,
especially when that previous scholarship is nonfeminist.
2. Research should question disciplinary and traditional boundaries.
3. Research should incorporate all aspects of life, including the
private and the “everyday.”
4. Research should value the experience of the collective as well as
the individual.
5. Research should be reflexive, spontaneous and reactionary when
useful.
6. Research should seek out partial knowledge, valuing and defining
it as such.
7. Research should benefit the individual(s) and communit(ies) being
researched, focusing on advocacy.
8. Research should build relationships.
9. Research should seek to maximize gains and minimize harms.
10. Research should represent the great spectrum of human diversity.
11. Research should give a voice to the voiceless.
12. Research should create social change.
13. Research should recognize and treat the researcher as an
individual.
14. Research should be interactive.
15. Research should be inclusive.
16. Research should level hierarchies.
These principles guide my research topics
and methodologies, as you will see below.
Research Questions and Intent
The
methodologies described below are intended to gather information needed to
understand the following research questions:
1. How does involvement in international environmental projects
influence the perceptions of conflict for Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian
youth and their families?
2. How does involvement in environmental activism alter the
perspectives of adults?
3. How can environmental cooperation encourage or instigate other
forms of cooperation?
4. How do the impacts of environmental involvement vary across age,
sex, gender, religion, nationality, and education?
Friends of the Earth Middle East has
previously presented evaluation methodologies for their “Good Water Neighbors”
initiative at a conference in Washington, D.C. organized by the Alliance for
Peacebuilding and the United State Institute for Peace called “Peacebuilding
Evaluation Evidence Summit.” This case
study was one of nine projects chosen to showcase organizations’ data
collection and evaluation.[6] This involvement illustrates FoEME’s
willingness to and appreciation for engaging in evaluative programs. This research project intends to be an
extension of the “Good Water Neighbors” evaluation program, expanding upon it
in the “Good Water Neighbors” endeavor and exploring other initiatives of
FoEME’s.
The results
of this research will be made available first and foremost to Friends of the
Earth Middle East, for use by their offices in improving programs, highlighting
efficacy to funding sources, etc. In
addition to being used in my dissertation, the results of this research will be
used in policy proposals for FoEME and other peacebuilding non-governmental
organizations. I also intend to present
the outcomes at conferences similar to the “Peacebuilding Evaluation Evidence
Summit” and allow FoEME’s other staff and interns to do the same.
Methodologies
Good
research requires strong relationships and serious investment; thus, this
research will be multi-stage in its approach and incorporate multiple methods. Multiple stages include an initial
introduction to the organization in 2010, a six-month internship in 2015, and a
full year of field research during my doctoral program. Triangulation, involving quantitative and
qualitative methods, will be used to include the greatest number of voices in
the research.
This project
builds from original contact of the researcher with Friends of the Earth Middle
East in summer 2010 during study abroad programs to Israel sponsored by the
Michigan State University Office of Study Abroad and Jewish Studies
Program. I was instructed by Eric
Aronoff (“Nature, Culture, and Environmental Sustainability in a Green
Israel”), Yael Aronoff (“Israeli Politics and Society”), and David Mendelson
(“The Emergence of the Modern Jewish State”).
I lived and traveled in Israel for seven weeks, speaking with a variety
of people and seeing most of the country’s currently held territory. My study included an exploration of the
relationships between the state of Israel, the environmental and ecological
realities, and various political, social, and cultural organizations. My field notes and experiences informed the
majority of the background for this study; occurrences and interactions that
took place during the field experience helped to shape the focus of the study.
Field notes
and a blog post from the day illustrate my initial impressions of the
organization under study.
Field Notes on Israeli Study Abroad
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
FoEME (Friends of the Earth Middle
East) guide: “Peace is knowing the other.”
FoEME Gender Roles: the Israeli
office has a male manager, the rest of the office staff (including
administrators) are female. There are
more men in Palestine, but fairly gender-balanced. The guide believes there are more Palestinian
men involved in the communities as well.
However, the guide did not discuss the teachers and students involved in
their education program…Also missing the perspective of a woman on which
genders are better represented.
Blog Post on “A Spartan in Israel:
Rebecca in Israel”
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
FoEME
Friends of the Earth Middle East
was generated over ten years ago as a joint project between Israel, Palestine,
and Jordan. Originally, its creator saw
an opportunity with the peace wrought by the Oslo Accords to start looking at
environmental sustainability. With the
breakdown of the peace process, though, this turned on its head: Environmental
sustainability projects were now a road to peace. FoEME now does a variety of educational,
advocacy, and sustainability projects focused on joint needs (wastewater
treatment, conservation of regional water sources, etc.). It’s been very successful. A particularly joyful story: In one region,
FoEME’s advocacy halted construction of the Barrier in a section that would
have cut off a peaceful Palestinian village from a nearby Israeli area –
neighborhoods that had been previously friendly. Rather than arguing on the basis of human
rights, illegal construction, etc. (arguments which have been made before but
have not carried the day), FoEME argued against the construction on ecological
grounds. And they won!
My involvement with FoEME has continued on
a superficial level through my undergraduate years, in occasionally checking
the organization’s website for news and stories. But before I engage in more serious and
explicit research work, I believe I need to ground myself more fully in an
understanding of the organization’s day to day activities and priorities.
To help
make my research work more informed, I will first engage in a six month
internship at the Friends of the Earth Middle East after obtaining my Masters
of Science degrees in environmental science at the University of East Anglia
and the University of Oxford. FoEME requests
that interns have two years’ worth of experience in the professional field
and/or are currently completing or have completed their masters, so this
internship will come at the right time. This
internship will give me a good chance to forge relationships with the
communities I hope to research with, giving me a better idea of FoEME’s
institutional practices and ongoing projects.
A number of
internships are available; however, the position as FoEME’s Social Media Intern
will give me the greatest access to all of FoEME’s staff and events. As the social media intern, I would:
· Be supervised by the Director of Friends of the Earth Middle East
(the only of the interns to be directly supervised by the Director);
· Be responsible for managing FoEME’s blog, Facebook, Flickr,
YouTube, etc.;
· Attend FoEME events to document them for social media;
· Assist FoEME staff in submitting and posting through social media
outlets; and
· Serve as a bridge between FoEME and external social media outlets
such as The Green Prophet, Green Change, and The Huffington Post.[7]
Out of all the potential internship
projects, this internship is the one most able to provide me with a working
knowledge of FoEME’s multiple projects.
I would travel a great deal between projects, alternately working in
FoEME’s Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian offices as well as the field.
My
involvement as the social media intern would have an additional advantage in
terms of future research. Because I
would be collecting and releasing stories for publication online, in newspapers
and the like, I could use many of the anecdotes and data collected during my
internship in later research without IRB approval at the time of the
internship, provided I do not use more information than is published in the
press releases. Where I wanted to
include quotations and specific details later in research, I could get in
contact with the individuals in question and ask for permission or a reflective
interview about that event once I am affiliated with a PhD program and have IRB
approval for the more substantial and purposeful fieldwork period.
The most
substantive part of my multi-stage encounter with Friends of the Earth Middle
East will be a yearlong research experience during my doctoral program. This will be the only one of my multiple
experiences with Friends of the Earth Middle East during which I am explicitly
doing research; this is done purposefully because I believe in the need to
foster relationships and that prior experience with a community can help to
better shape and inform research goals and methodologies. As a result of my internship with FoEME, the
research methodologies may well (and should!) change at least slightly, as I
build into them my enhanced knowledge of the organization. Below, though, is a beginning draft of my
methodologies for the fieldwork year.
During my
year of fieldwork, I will be fully engaged with Friends of the Middle East
through participant observation in both its offices and its projects. FoEME has forty-five paid staff; its hundreds
of volunteers are involved mostly in its “Good Water Neighbors” (GWN) community
program. Each regional office (one per
country involved, located in Amman, Jordan; Bethlehem, Palestine; and Tel Aviv,
Israel) has a director. I will know the
majority of staff and a good number of volunteers, thanks to my experience
interning with FoEME. Though I will not
officially be staff during my fieldwork year, I hope to continue these strong
relationships and plan to regularly be in the office, involved with and
observing the day-to-day workings of FoEME.
I will also regularly be engaged with FoEME’s programming, working to
clean up parks, foster dialogue at Town Halls, etc.
Additionally,
I hope to make use of FoEME’s research interns during my time as research
assistants. Friends of the Earth Middle
East regularly takes on research interns to help project managers in research
relevant to the project. These interns
and FoEME’s regular volunteers will be helpful in providing several ready
possibilities for research assistants to increase capacity in interviewing and
conducting other forms of research. A
total of four research assistants will be sought to maximize research capacity
while ensuring I am able to adequately supervise and mentor all
assistants. To help with questions of
translation and cultural sensitivities, I will seek to have at least one
research assistant from Israel, Jordan, and Palestine, with the fourth
potentially being an international citizen through FoEME’s internship program. I will also seek to have a diversity of ages
and genders represented.
A word
about language: At the time of fieldwork, I will be proficient in Arabic with a
good deal of exposure to Hebrew. Many
Israelis, Jordanians, and Palestinians, are fluent in or at least have a working
grasp of English, so language will generally not be an issue. My research assistants will be chosen based
on translation abilities so that this resource exists in the research team when
it is needed.
These
relationships and human capital resources will make the following research
methods more likely to yield helpful results.
Event Surveys
This
research will depend mostly on surveys with a combination of quantitative and
qualitative, open- and close-ended questions, that will be used to measure how
opinions and understandings of the conflict and environmental peacebuilding
changes as a result of FoEME’s programming.
This survey will be disseminated at all FoEME events. Because the survey includes the research
information and informed consent components and is written rather than oral,
they can be distributed even when neither a research assistant nor I am
present. Through demographic information
collection and questions regarding environmental and other peacebuilding
involvement, these surveys help to answer all of my research questions.
The consent
form as well as pre- and post-event surveys are given below.
Research
Participant Information and Consent Form
Friends
of the Earth Middle East
1. EXPLANATION OF THE RESEARCH:
- You are being asked to participate in a research study about the efficacy of Friends of the Earth Middle East’s (FoEME) programming. Your responses will help FoEME improve programming and help Rebecca Farnum with doctoral research she is completing to help her meet the requirement for a PhD in anthropology.
- If you agree to participate, the researcher(s) will ask you to complete the following survey(s) or answer questions in an interview. You can respond with as little or as much information as you would like.
2. Your rights to participate, say no, or withdraw:
- Participation in this research project is completely voluntary. You have the right to say no. You may change your mind at any time and withdraw. You may choose not to answer specific questions or to stop participating at any time.
3. Contact Information for Questions and
Concerns:
If you have concerns or
questions about this study, such as scientific issues, how to do any part of
it, or to report an injury, please contact the researcher Rebecca Farnum
(becca.farnum@gmail.com, 269-719-0442).
4. Documentation of Informed consent.
You
indicate your voluntary agreement to participate by completing these surveys or
interviews.
Event
Survey
Friends
of the Earth Middle East
For
general questions and comments, please contact Rebecca Farnum
(becca.farnum@gmail.com, 269-719-0442).
1. Tell us more about yourself.
Age: ____<18 ____18-30 ____31-55 ____55+
Sex: ____Female ____Male ____Other: _________________________
Gender: ____Woman ____Man ____Other: _________________________
Religion: ____Christian ____Jewish ____Muslim Other: __________________
Nationality: ____Israeli ____Jordanian ____Palestinian ____Other: ________
Education: ____None ____Primary ____Secondary ____College+
Sex: ____Female ____Male ____Other: _________________________
Gender: ____Woman ____Man ____Other: _________________________
Religion: ____Christian ____Jewish ____Muslim Other: __________________
Nationality: ____Israeli ____Jordanian ____Palestinian ____Other: ________
Education: ____None ____Primary ____Secondary ____College+
Answer questions 2-7 BEFORE the event.
2. What brings you to this event? In other words, what do
you hope to learn more about?
3. How would you rate FoEME’s activities, given what you
currently know?
____1 (poor) ____2 (fair) ____3
(good) ____4 (great) ____5 (superb)
4. How optimistic are you about
Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian peace?
____1 (not at all) ____2 (not much) ____3 (neutral) ____4
(somewhat) ____5 (very)
5. Do you know what environmental peacebuilding is?
____Yes ____No
If yes, how effective you do
think environmental peacebuilding is?
____1 (not at all) ____2 (not much) ____3 (neutral) ____4
(somewhat) ____5 (very)
6. Are you involved in peacebuilding efforts?
____Yes ____No
7. If you wanted to be involved in peacebuilding efforts,
would you know how to do so?
____Yes ____No
Answer questions 8-16 AFTER the event.
8. How would you rate FoEME’s activities, given what you
now know?
____1 (poor) ____2 (fair) ____3
(good) ____4 (great) ____5 (superb)
9. How optimistic are you about
Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian peace after this event?
____1 (not at all) ____2 (not much) ____3 (neutral) ____4
(somewhat) ____5 (very)
10. Do you think you learned something more about
environmental peacebuilding?
____Yes ____No
How effective you do think
environmental peacebuilding is?
____1 (not at all) ____2 (not much) ____3 (neutral) ____4
(somewhat) ____5 (very)
11. Are you involved in peacebuilding efforts?
____Yes ____No
12. If you wanted to be involved in peacebuilding efforts,
would you know how to do so?
____Yes ____No
13. How would you rate this event?
____1 (poor) ____2 (fair) ____3
(good) ____4 (great) ____5 (superb)
14. What was the most important thing you learned today?
15. Will you do anything differently as a result of this
event?
16. Please share any other comments or suggestions for
FoEME or the researcher.
Interviews
Friends of
the Earth Middle East has empowered some sixteen hundred (1,600) youth “Water
Trustees” who “have
undertaken weekly or bi-weekly environmental education activities and have
learned about regional water issues from the ‘WaterCare’ program.”[8] Seventy youth have been trained together in
joint campaigns around the shared water resources of the Mountain Aquifer, the
Jordan River, and the Dead Sea.[9] Friends of the Earth Middle East believes
that empowering these young Water Trustees challenges them to be more active in
their communities and believe in the possibility of a positive future with
their neighbors. To better understand
the efficacy of these international youth training and educational programs, I
will conduct in-depth interviews with a sample of the Water Trustees as well as
their families.
Invitations to FoEME’s entire group of youth Water Trustees
will be sent, asking they and their families to consider participating in some
research about their participation in the program. Participation would include about two hours
of the family’s time, including separate (i.e., private) interviews with the
youth Water Trustee, at least one parent or guardian, and an invitation to
other parents/guardians, siblings, and close friends and relatives to also take
part. Based on the response rate, the
research team will either interview all those willing or take a random sample
of the respondents to interview. If the
number of those families willing to participate exceeds the capacity of the
researchers to conduct in-person interviews, the interview questions will be
sent to families who have not been randomly selected for in-person research
visits so that respondents have the chance to give their input in writing. While written and oral interviews are likely
to yield very different kinds of results, I believe it is important to include
as many voices as possible, particularly if those voices have asked to be
included. Once a person indicates
willingness to participate in research, then, it is the responsibility of the
researcher to ensure they have the chance to do so. While written interviews are suboptimal, they
are better than the alternative of nothing when resources such as time and
money do not allow for extensive in-person contact. My target is for about fifty family
interviews (which would be in reality 2+ interviews per family, for a total of
probably one hundred fifty or so); this works to ten families per researcher
with my research assistants included.
This is probably most realistic looking at time limits of the research
assistants, who will likely have other jobs, and the time that will be required
to obtain the numerous permissions necessary and deal with scheduling.
These interviews will be semistructured,[10] with a short list of
general questions to ensure are answered but flexibility about the order of
questions and willingness to asking probing questions off script as
appropriate. Flexibility and
responsivity are core values of this research; however, because research
assistants will also be conducting some of these interviews, some structuring
is required. The list of questions also
allows for dissemination and completion in writing when necessary.
Again, since research assistants will be conducting some of
these interviews, the interviews will be recorded whenever possible. The research team will ask for consent to be
recorded when scheduling the interview; if respondents do not give their
consent to being vocally recorded, two members of the research team will go to
the interview so that one is able to focus on the conversation while the other
takes detailed notes.
The list of questions to be included in these interviews, in
no particular order, is given below. The
parenthetical note beside the question indicates whether the question will be
asked to the youth Water Trustee, parent/guardian/sibling/etc., or both/all.
1. Why did you become involved in FoEME? (youth)
2. Do you think your perceptions of the
conflict and your neighbors have changed since you started working with
FoEME? How? (youth)
3. What is one thing you think would
further peace? (all)
4. If you could tell the Israeli Prime
Minister one thing, what would it be?
(all)
a. The Palestinian Authority? (all)
b. The King of Jordan? (all)
5. What is your favorite thing about
working with FoEME? (all)
6. What is your understanding of what
[youth Water Trustee] does with FoEME?
(family and friends)
7. What have you learned since [youth
Water Trustee] became a Water Trustee?
(family and friends)
8. Do you have a favorite story about or
something you learned through your/[youth Water Trustee’s] involvement in
FoEME? (all)
These
questions will be used to guide conversation in the interview. As a feminist researcher, I strongly believe
that interviews should not simply be a pumping of information from people, but
instead a mutually beneficial conversation for all persons. I will stress this with my research
assistants, encouraging them to let the respondents talk as much or as little
as they would like in response to each question. Additionally, when probing questions seems as
though they would help, they will be asked.
While there is a limited amount of time in which to conduct interviews,
whenever possible, seeming tangents will be allowed to run on, as I believe the
researcher’s role as a listener and validator of experience is part of their
payback to the researched, and tangents can in fact yield some of the greatest
insights.
Oral Histories
Friends of
the Earth Middle East was founded in 1994; the Good Water Neighbors program was
established in 2001. When I do my
fieldwork in 2018 or so, the youth involved in the organization’s early
beginnings and the GWN initiative’s first programs will be in their 30s and
40s. Some may have remained involved in
FoEME or similar organizations; others will have no obvious and immediate
connection to the environmental peacebuilding they did in decades past. To get an idea of how involvement in FoEME’s
international environmental programming affects the adults that the currently
involved youth will become, I will conduct oral histories with some of FoEME’s
early participants. Part of my desire to
use oral histories on this demographic is to question traditional assumptions
about how old an individual needs to be to have a “life history.” By asking fairly young adults to give an
account of their full lives, even though those full lives are a great deal
shorter than the research participants’ oral histories are typically used with,
I will question traditional beliefs about “appropriate” methods.
Because
oral histories can be particularly sensitive to who is conducting the history
and their reactions to what is said, as well as being a great deal less
scripted than prompted interviews, I hope to conduct all of the life histories
myself. I hope to complete around
twenty, representing approximately one a week for the last half of year I will
be in the field, allowing for the time necessary to track down participants and
schedule a meeting time with them.
The prompt
question will simply be “Can you tell me what led up to your involvement with
FoEME and how that involvement this has or has not impacted your life
directions since?” I will give as few
prompts as possible from that point, instead allowing the research participant
to share with me what she or he finds relevant.
When necessary, though, prompts might ask questions about job choices,
relationships with people from neighboring countries, perceptions of the
conflict, etc. Unlike most of the youth
currently involved in FoEME, these individuals may well remember the hope and
crushed optimism of the Oslo Accords and their failure; this may provide
another strong fodder for reflection from the participant.
If time
allows or I have trouble finding an adequate number of participants from
FoEME’s early beginnings, life histories of FoEME’s current staff may also
prove a treasure trove, allowing me to explore the factors that make a life or
professional commitment to environmental peacebuilding possible.
These
research methods will be ongoing and intersecting, happening at the same time
and informing each other. As a feminist,
I believe in adopting the overall methodology as appropriate once on the field
to better reflect the needs and suggestions of those being researched. What is above reflects a beginning attempt to
think through how I might go about answering the research questions posited,
nothing more and nothing less.
[2]
Reinharz, Shulamit. 1992. Feminist
Methods in Social Research. London and
New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 240.
[3]
Harding, Sandra, editor. 1987. Feminism
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1 comment:
It's really sad that you can't decide what to do with yourself following your graduation in 3 days!
Good grief! Your grandmother is so impressed.
granna
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