Women in the field: Positioning, troubling, and (em)bodying researcher identities in international and comparative education

Abstract

In this paper, I consider not only issues associated with the positionality of the researcher in international and comparative education fieldwork, but also how the researcher’s gender intercedes and intersects with position. Using heuristic research methods, specifically (self-)dialogue and the collection of research manuscripts, I explored how women researchers describe their experiences conducting international fieldwork and how they position their work as insiders/outsiders. Findings suggest that women struggled less with their insider/outsider stance than they did with a researcher/practitioner stance. Additionally, women spoke of gender as being associated with their bodies, perceptions of their bodies by participants and others, and how this positioned them in the field. Important, challenging questions emerged related to how we train women researchers, the homogeneity of the field of international and comparative education, and using gender norms to gain access to participants.