Work

From Crisis to Epiphany: What firing a Research Assistant helped me appreciate about Agency and Muslim Women in Howrah, West Bengal, India

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: In this article I reflect on how a moment of crisis – having to fire a research assistant – became an epiphany that triggered my interest in agency, which ultimately became the focus for my doctoral dissertation. The aims of this article are twofold: first, to contribute to literature illustrating how serendipity and unexpected difficulties can shape ethnographic practice (e.g. Andrews, 2005; Cottle, 2001; Konecki, 2005; Pieke, 2000); and second, to describe how I came to appreciate the ways in which agency is embedded within and informed by the historical, sociocultural, and religious structures that shape the lives of Muslim women living in areas of urban poverty in Howrah.

Source: Sites a journal of social anthropology and cultural studies

DOI: 10.11157/sites-vol9iss2id210

Author: Lorena Gibson

Institution: Victoria University of Wellington

Language: English

Topic: Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Gender equality

Open Access status: bronze