ABSTRACT
In this chapter we turn to an examination of some of the simultaneously practical and theoretical considerations involved in formulating appropriate research strategies which focus on changing femininities. Referring specifically to our own research projects, we address how we work with the complexities of ideas and practices of ‘genders’ and ‘geographies’. We highlight the methodologies that helped us inform our questions about the geographies of new femininities in each of the case studies which constitute the next four chapters. In formulating the research questions for the individual case studies all of us have drawn on the extensive debates in feminist geography and related fields on feminist epistemologies, methodologies and methods. Before moving on to discuss our specific case studies, we examine briefly some of the debates concerning feminist epistemologies. According to the WGSG (1997: 87):
Feminism challenges traditional epistemologies of what are considered valid forms of knowledge. Feminist epistemology has redefined the knower, knowing and the known (Harding, 1987; Moss, 1993: 49). It questions notions of ‘truth’ and validates ‘alternative’ sources of knowledge, such as subjective experience. Feminist epistemology stresses the non-neutrality of the researcher and the power relations involved in the research process (D. Rose, 1993: 58). It also contests boundaries between ‘fieldwork’ and everyday life, arguing that we are always in the ‘field’ (Katz, 1994: 67).
