Damian Breen, Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit, Institute of Education,
University of Warwick
D.Breen@warwick.ac.uk
Reflections on the positionality of the White, male non-Muslim researcher in Muslim
primary schools: the realities of researching Muslim women
This paper discusses reflections on the process of carrying out ethnographic research in
Muslim primary schools in England. The paper draws on research experiences at the final
stages of data collection for a PhD thesis, and illustrates the ways in which gender has played
a significant role in a constant process of ethical consideration throughout the research
process. With a trend for the majority of teaching staff being female in primary schools
generally, and in Muslim primary schooling specifically, the paper discusses reflections from
the author as a White, male non-Muslim researcher carrying out in-depth interviews and
sessions of observation in settings with Muslim women. Gender is identified as having been a
constant point of reference over ethnicity in the research process, and in conclusion a
comparison is drawn between the author’s concerns prior to data collection, and the realities
of researching Muslim women drawing on both research experiences and interview data with
female participants.
Rhys Dafydd Jones, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University,
Ceredigion, Wales
rdj06@aber.ac.uk
Access, Ethics, and Method: methodological reflections on researching everyday Islamic
practices in rural Wales
This paper explores some methodological issues that arise from researching the practice of
Islam in rural west Wales, paying particular attention to the practical negotiations that are
made in the field. While there is much literature on access, ethics, and methods that are
appropriate for qualitative research with marginalized communities in general, many of these
accounts are in fairly hypothetical and abstract terms that do not pay sufficient attention to
the often contingent nature of encounters in the field, nor to the considerations that need to be
made with particular religious communities.
Discussion is structured around the use of the Diary, Diary-Interview Method in exploring
issues of methodology, ethics, and access that need to be made in the field as part of my
ongoing doctoral work. It commences by discussing the suitability of this de-essentialising
and emancipatory method for the study of rural Muslim communities. I proceed to discuss
practicalities of this method that arose from my early fieldwork, and how these were
circumvented. I conclude by suggesting the wider implications this method has in
understanding the negotiations of religious practices.
Leon Moosavi, PhD Student, Sociology Department, Lancaster University
l.moosavi@lancaster.ac.uk
Reflections on Researching Muslim Converts
In this paper, I will reflect on three thought-provoking issues that I have encountered during
the fieldwork I have been conducting for my PhD over the last eight months. All three of the
issues have implications for the knowledge that was produced during the in-depth interviews
I conducted with Muslim converts from Greater Manchester. The first of the issues relates to
the ‘insider/outsider’ debate for which I will describe some of the ways in which being an
‘insider’ or a Muslim researching other Muslims created ethical and practical difficulties. I
will go on to further complicate this issue by arguing that regardless of whether the
researcher considers themselves as an ‘insider’ or an ‘outsider’, there are frequently situations
when interviewees may position the researcher in a different position. Thus, it is not always
clear whether a researcher is an ‘insider’, an ‘outsider’ or maybe even both. The second issue
relates to the specific issues surrounding gender dynamics that a male researcher may
encounter when attempting to conduct in-depth interviews with female Muslims. I will
therefore explore some of the difficulties this caused and explain how I was able to overcome
them. Thirdly and finally, I will give an insight into the innovative way in which I recruited
many of my interviewees which was by using Facebook. There were several advantages yet
also several disadvantages in using this as a methodological tool that I will explain in this
paper. These critical reflections will help highlight some of the ways in which the knowledge
produced when researching Muslims in Britain can be problematic, and provide some
suggestions as to how to minimise these challenges.
Ali Omar, Islam-UK Centre, School of Religious and Theological Studies, Cardiff University
omahad@cf.ac.uk
Fiqh of Charity in the United Kingdom: Methodological Issues in Researching amongst
Muslims in Wiltshire
The paper will draw on the experience of researching Muslims living in the town of Swindon,
Wiltshire County as a male researcher. I will examine methodological issues common among
researchers in general and also open a dialogue of how shared religious identity of the
researcher and interviewees emerged as both a point of commonality and difference in the
research process. In particular I will look at gender and group affiliation and their role in
determining ‘acceptability’ and a way of fostering ‘group agenda’. This paper will also argue
that Muslim male researchers are struggling in gaining access as in some instances they are
considered as ‘outsiders’ and in other times they will be judged according to their perceived
religious standing. I will also explore the challenges posed by ‘positionality’ and the fact that
a Muslim male researcher who possesses religious responsibilities within the community, or
considered as an ‘alim’, face when they enter the field as researchers par se.
Barbra Wallace, University of East London
b.wallace@uel.ac.uk
Sameness and difference in the dynamics of the relationship between researcher and
researched
Despite a growing research literature concerning Muslim communities in Britain, there has
been a dearth of interrogation of methodologies employed. This paper addresses this issue building upon notions of insider/outsider boundaries articulated by feminist scholars, such as
Teresa de Lauretis and Sandra Harding. The latter have acknowledged the power dynamics
of knowledge production, the importance of situating the researcher within the research
process, whilst accommodating the ‘voice’ of oppressed groups and individuals.
The paper stems from a recently completed PhD study, undertaken by a non-Muslim
researcher with Muslim women micro-entrepreneurs in east London. There has, to date, been
limited focus upon the dynamic between Muslim research participants and non-Muslim
researchers. The study illustrates the significant methodological challenge inherent in the
exploration of the dynamic between the researcher and the researched, drawing upon the
work of feminist philosopher, Linda Alcoff. Underpinning such a dynamic is the theoretical
and philosophical problematic inherent in the notion of identities – a dichotomous positioning
of either sameness or difference. Thus, for example, the paper asks, can only women
understand women’s entrepreneurship? Can non-Muslim researchers effectively undertake
research with non-Muslim participants?
In order to address the commonality / difference bifurcation, the study developed a new ‘both
/ and’ methodological framework, based upon the Alcoffian notion of embodied positioning.
The latter, whilst remaining embedded in a partial, located epistemological perspective, also
postulates that some elements of experiential identities, such as gender and faith, are more
‘essential’ to our identities than others, and thus are integral to our sense of ‘self’. The paper
explores the relationship of researcher and researched from the perspective of such embodied
positioning – examining the dynamics of both commonality and difference, focusing upon
gender and faith.
Imogen Wallace, Geography Department Queen Mary, University of London.
i.c.wallace@qmul.ac.uk
Visualising home as a religious and cultural space: using auto-photography to explore
ideas of home, identity and belonging for Muslim women in London and Bristol.
Contemporary methodological debates within social sciences have increasingly focused upon
the recognition of research positions as multiple, flexible and fashioned through a process of
interaction. Questions of emotion, embodiment and the performativity of place within
research encounters are at the forefront of such discussions. This emphasis upon studying
relational and emotional relationships to place raises particular methodological challenges,
whereupon there has been a call to both develop new techniques and to adapt and ‘imbue
traditional’ methods in order to recognize and reflect upon the routine, emotional and
embodied aspects of everyday social worlds, lives and interactions. Auto-photography has
become an increasingly popular visual technique, however there is relatively little
methodological literature concerning its use.
This paper discusses the way in which auto-photography was used to complement a series of
in-depth group interviews held with 28 Muslim women in London and Bristol. It describes
how auto-photography became a means of investigating the home as a cultural and religious
space without having to research ‘in situ’. As part of this discussion I will focus upon the way
in which the use of photography helped to both disrupt hierarchical insider/outsider binaries
and created more nuanced discussions of home and identity.