Freuden und Gefahren der teilnehmenden Beobachtung bei der Erforschung heterosexueller Identitäten
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-25.2.4163Schlagworte:
teilnehmende Beobachtung, Reflexivität, qualitative Feldforschung, feministische Methodologien, Heteronormativität, Zwangsheterosexualität, Forschungsethik, Sicherheit von Forschenden, Best Practice, SüdafrikaAbstract
In diesem Beitrag beschäftige ich mich mit Vorteilen und potenziellen Risiken, die mit teilnehmender Beobachtung bei der Erforschung sexueller Identität verbunden sind. Insbesondere geht es mir darum zu verstehen, wie junge, heterosexuelle, cisgeschlechtliche Personen aus der südafrikanischen Mittelschicht ihre heterosexuelle Identität wahrnehmen und in welcher Weise Privilegien und Heteronormativität ihre Erfahrungen prägen. In meiner ethnografischen Studie habe ich verschiedene Methoden der qualitativen Datenerhebung eingesetzt, darunter auch teilnehmende Beobachtung, um zu analysieren, wie normative Praktiken im zeitgenössischen Südafrika verhandelt und aufrechterhalten werden. Als feministische Forscherin reflektiere ich die erkenntnistheoretischen und methodologischen Entscheidungen, die ich im Rahmen der Studie getroffen habe, wobei Reflexivität und Positionalität bei der Datenerhebung und -analyse eine entscheidende Rolle spielten. Anhand von Erfahrungen in drei verschiedenen sozialen Räumen in Johannesburg – High-End-Nachtclubs, Sexspielzeug-Partys im Tupperware-Stil und traditionellen Braais [Grillfesten] – untersuche ich die Vorteile und Herausforderungen der teilnehmenden Beobachtung. Ich will so zur breiteren Diskussion über den Einsatz dieser Methode verhelfen, indem ich ihr Potenzial und gleichzeitig die mit ihr verbundenen Risiken anerkenne.
Downloads
Literaturhinweise
Blank, Hanne (2012). Straight: The surprisingly short history of heterosexuality. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Braun, Virginia & Clarke, Victoria (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
Clemons, Kristal Moore (2019). Black feminist thought and qualitative research in education. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education, https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.1194 [Accessed: March 14, 2024].
Collins, Patricia Hill (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. New York, NY: Routledge.
Congdon, Venetia (2015). The "lone female researcher": Isolation and safety upon arrival in the field. Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford, 7(1), 15-24.
Crenshaw, Kimberlé (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241-1299.
Cupples, Julie (2002). The field as a landscape of desire: Sex and sexuality in geographical fieldwork. Area, 34(4), 382-390.
Curtis, Debra (2004). Commodities and sexual subjectivities: A look at capitalism and its desires. Cultural Anthropology, 19(1), 95-121.
David, Matthew & Sutton, Carole (2010). Social research: An introduction (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
Davis, Dána-Ain & Craven, Christa (2022). Feminist ethnography: Thinking through methodologies, challenges, and possibilities (2nd ed.). London: Rowman & Littlefield.
Dhamoon, Rita Kaur (2011). Considerations on mainstreaming intersectionality. Political Research Quarterly, 64(1), 230-243.
Francis, Dennis & Kuhl, Kylie (2022). Imagining a curriculum beyond compulsory heterosexuality in South African education. Journal of LGBT Youth, 19(4),469-488.
Herbert, Steve (2000). For ethnography. Progress in Human Geography, 24(4), 550-568.
Hockey, Jenny; Meah, Angela & Robinson, Victoria (2007). Mundane heterosexualities: From theory to practices. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Katz, Jonathan Ned (1990). The invention of heterosexuality. Socialist Review, 20, 7-34.
Kiguwa, Peace (2019). Feminist approaches: An exploration of women's gendered experiences. In Sumaya Laher, Angelo Fynn & Sherianne Kramer (Eds.), Transforming research methods in the social sciences: Case studies from South Africa (pp.220-235). Johannesburg: Wits University Press, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.18772/22019032750.19 [Accessed: March 14, 2024].
Kloß, Sinah Theres (2017). Sexual(ized) harassment and ethnographic fieldwork: A silenced aspect of social research. Ethnography, 18(3), 396-414.
Krueger, Richard A. & Casey, Mary Anne (2015). Focus groups: A practical guide for applied research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Levine-Rasky, Cynthia (2011). Intersectionality theory applied to whiteness and middle classness. Social Identities, 17(2), 239-253.
Lorde, Audre (2012). Sister outsider: Essays and speeches. Berkeley, CA: Crossing Press.
Maake, Tshepo; Rugunanan, Pragna & Smuts, Letitia (2023). Negotiating and managing (homo)sexual identities in multiple heteronormative spaces: The experiences of black homosexual mineworkers. Journal of Homosexuality, 70(6), 1138-1161.
McCosker, Heather; Barnard, Alan & Gerber, Rod (2001). Undertaking sensitive research: Issues and strategies for meeting the safety needs of all participants. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 2(1), Art. 22, https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-2.1.983 [Accessed: March 14, 2024].
Millora, Chris; Maimunah, Siti & Still, Enid (2020). Reflecting on the ethics of PhD research in the Global South: Reciprocity, reflexivity and situatedness. Acta Academica, 52(1), 10-30, http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/24150479/aa52i1/SP2 [Accessed: March 14, 2024].
Mkhize, Sthembiso Pollen & Mthembu, Anele (2023). Unpacking pervasive heteronormativity in sub-Saharan Africa: Opportunities to embrace multiplicity of sexualities. Progress in Human Geography, 47(3), 377-391.
Patton, Michael Quinn (2015). Qualitative research & evaluation methods: Integrating theory and practice (4 ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Pillow, Wanda S & Mayo, Cris (2012). Feminist ethnography: Histories, challenges, and possibilities. In Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber (Ed.), Handbook of feminist research: Theory and praxis (pp.187-205). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Perera, Kaushalya (2020). The interview as an opportunity for participant reflexivity. Qualitative Research, 20(2), 143-159.
Reddy, Shakila & Dunne, Mairead (2007). Risking it: Young heterosexual femininities in South African context of HIV/AIDS. Sexualities, 10(2), 159-172.
Reeves, Scott; Kuper, Ayelet & Hodges, Brian David (2008). Qualitative research methodologies: Ethnography. BMJ, 337, 512-514, https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.a1020 [Accessed: April 31, 2014].
Rich, Adrienne (1980). Compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 5(4), 631-660.
Sharabi, Asaf (2022). A male ethnographer's perspective on sexual harassment in fieldwork: A research note. Qualitative Research, 22(2), 328-334.
Shefer, Tamara & Ruiters, Keith (1998). The masculine construct in heterosex. Agenda, 37, 39-45.
Steyn, Melissa & Van Zyl, Mikki (Eds.) (2009). The prize and the price: Shaping sexualities in South Africa. Cape Town: HSRC Press.
Smuts, Letitia (2023). Decently transgressing: Expressions of female heterosexuality and the discourses of (hetero)sexual pleasure in South Africa. Sexualities, 26(3), 388-406.
Sultana, Farhana (2007). Reflexivity, positionality and participatory ethics: Negotiating fieldwork dilemmas in international research. ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies, 6(3), 374-385, https://acme-journal.org/index.php/acme/article/view/786 [Accessed: March 15, 2024].
Tamale, Sylvia (2011). Researching and theorising sexualities in Africa. In Sylvia Tamale (Ed.), African sexualities: A reader (pp.11-36). Cape Town: Pambuzuka Press.
Tan, Qian Hui (2013). Flirtatious geographies: Clubs as spaces for the performance of affective heterosexualities. Gender, Place & Culture, 20(6), 718-736.
Van der Westhuizen, Christi (2017). Sitting pretty: White Afrikaans women in postapartheid South Africa. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.
Webber, Valerie & Brunger, Fern (2018). Assessing risk to researchers: Using the case of sexuality research to inform research ethics board guidelines. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 19(3), Art 2, http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/fqs-19.3.3062 [Accessed: January 8, 2023].
Warner, Michael (1991). Introduction: Fear of a queer planet. Social Text, 29, 3-17.
Warner, Michael (1999). The trouble with normal: Sex, politics, and the ethics of queer life. New York, NY: The Free Press.
Wittig, Monique (1992). The straight mind and other essays. Brighton: Harvester Wheatshaft.
Yuval-Davis, Nira (2011). The politics of belonging: Intersectional contestations. London: Sage.
Downloads
Veröffentlicht
Zitationsvorschlag
Ausgabe
Rubrik
Lizenz
Copyright (c) 2024 Letitia Smuts
Dieses Werk steht unter der Lizenz Creative Commons Namensnennung 4.0 International.
