3 How can we understand what we hear when we listen to women then ask questions, look at our assumptions and identify issues

As I participated in formal and informal conversations with women in the four communities, I realized at some point I would have to begin "understanding" what we were talking about. I would have to interpret what we were saying and what we weren't saying in terms of the research questions.

To a certain extent, that means I went into the conversations with an agenda-with a general list of topics I wanted to talk about. This agenda was not the same in each community. In the last section, I outlined how I heard some of what was said in terms of an experiential learning process. I also heard, and organized what I was hearing, in terms of the issues that had been raised in earlier conversations and in terms of issues I identified as I listened to the tapes after the conversations were over.

These questions, the questions that followed each visit, became the way in which I organized my "field notes." This not only allowed me to check back with some of the women who had participated in those conversations, it also gave me a framework within which to go forward.

Halfway through the project I put everything I had transcribed or written away. Then, I developed a set of questions that I thought focussed what was going on so far. These are the interim questions.

At the end of all the visits and transcriptions, I repeated this process. These are the questions that supplement the interim questions. In significant ways, the tension between the first set and the second set provide the framework for strategizing about the future.

At the same time as I was developing the questions, I was organizing excerpts from the taped interviews into general themes-- somewhat along the same lines as the questions-but cutting across time and space. These themes are included here. Finally, in the next section are the words of the women who generated the themes. The selection of excerpts opens up the time and space of the research, but is limited by the time and space of this report. It is important that we remember to respect the words that are not included and also those that weren't said.

The first questions concern issues around the feminist research process

  • What right do we have as women, as researchers, to insert ourselves into other women's lives and raise issues that cannot be resolved during our time together?
  • What responsibilities do we have, as feminists, around the consciousness of other women and the effects of consciousness on their lives?
  • What responsibilities do we have, as feminists, in providing women with community before we intentionally raise issues of consciousness?
  • How do these responsibilities change when those of us who are inserting ourselves have positions of relative privilege? . How do these responsibilities change when we assume the label of "feminist" for ourselves or for others?
  • Is there a position of feminist integrity around the issue of "consciousness at any price"?
  • Is there a position of feminist integrity around refusing to raise consciousness when the opportunity arises-even though there may be a price for either or both women?
  • Who should decide these issues-and for whom?

Back Contents Next