ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the challenges and opportunities encountered when the fieldwork conducted in Taiwan's satellite factories in the summer of 1989. Methodologically, the chapter centers on the issues of negotiating entry, maintaining access, and resolving conflicts and tensions. The author's discussion derives from, and seeks to contribute to, the recent feminist debate appraising the power relations between researchers and informants. The author's analysis also must be seen in the context of earlier accounts of fieldwork in Asia, with special emphasis on those focusing on the Chinese communities in Asian countries. She situated her own fieldwork experiences at the point where my personal trajectory as a Chinese woman intersects with her previous knowledge of the research topic. The author's dilemmas in fieldwork arise from a number of contradictions: between her vocal feminism and her role as a keen observer. The author's discussion of the dilemmas inherent in feminist fieldwork takes all these contradictions into account.
