seeking advice on researching the context-specific feminism in Bosnia/Balkans

[Litosseliti, Evangelia]

Dear Danijela,
 
There are many interesting questions here...
 
In terms of conducting focus groups with Bosnian women, you could look at my book 'Using Focus Groups in Research'. It will be useful especially if you haven't used this methodology before, as it takes a step by step approach to setting up and conducting focus groups in the social sciences. I have also used them in my gender and language work, examples of which can be found in the book.
 
More broadly, I'd be very interested to know more about notions and interpretations of feminism among the women in your research. You can reach me directly: l.litosseliti at city.ac.uk
 
Best wishes,
 
Lia
 
 
Dr Lia Litosseliti
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lecturer in Linguistics
Department of Language and Communication Science
City University
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
UK

l.litosseliti at city.ac.uk

http://www.city.ac.uk/lcs/biographys/llitosseliti.html <https://outweb.city.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.city.ac.uk/lcs/biographys/llitosseliti.html> 


 
 
 

________________________________

From: International Gender and Language Association on behalf of Danijela Majstorovic
Sent: Wed 06/06/2007 13:53
To: GALA-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Subject: seeking advice on researching the context-specific feminism in Bosnia/Balkans



Dear all,


 I have just subscribed to the list and have several questions for all of you who
may be able to help me. I am currently in the middle of writing a research
proposal contextualizing Bosnian and Herzegovinian womanhood and feminism with
respcect to history, cultural and social background of respondents (it is still
in its early
phase so forgive my bluntness). I plan on conducting two series of interviews with

1. women who call themselves feminists (there are going to be few, not more than
10, mostly academics and one activist organization)
2. women in position of power (heads of women's non governmental sector (these
may not necesarily think of themselves as feminists but are certainly the new
elite offering services to other women (clients), some call it project-based
feminism), women politicians, businesswomen etc...

which shouldn't be too difficult to analyze i think but

3. the  more interesting and more complex for the CDA are the transcripts
obtained from three focus groups consisting of women from different ethnicities
(as these, as you might know, are separated as a consequence of the 1992-1995
war), age, education, class . Since there has been almost no previous research on
women in BiH whatsoever (I don't know where to find recent data on how many women
for instance received higher education, or how many of them live in the country,
I dont have the basic statistics on age, income, education as we are still
waiting for the census which won't happen until 2011 for political reasons) it
makes it all the more difficult. I can perhaps contact the Statistics institutes
and ask for their estimation or something just to get some idea of how then to
direct my interviews..

Anyhow, I can't wait to do focus groups (the enthusiasm is there) and see what
Bosnian women really think, how they talk about themselves, how they
construct and represent themselves, how they legitimize patriarchy for instance,
what interdiscursive elements are present, etc...on the other hand
I can't get Gayatri Spivak out of my mind for her 'Can Subaltern Speak' meaning
that my Western education makes me more biased and expectant of
'them' to be speaking in a way that I will later be analyzing. I mean I can't
just ask them if their husbands beat them or if their mom wouldn't let
them go to school for e.g. but I would like to be as sensitive as possible to
analyse any potential resistance.

Reasons for such anxiety are numerous: little knowledge on my part of any focus
group research that was analyzed in CDA fashion that dealt with Third
World, and or women'a narratives/stories in general concerning their womanhood
(if you happen to be aware of such, please let me know), a first
timer in focus groups and interviews etc...


I look forward to any bibliographic reference and comments that you may have.



Best regards,

Danijela Majstorovic


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