Contribution of Geographical Research Methods to the Study of Gender Relations

Year 2020, , 88 - 102, 20.12.2020

Gökben Demirbaş

https://doi.org/10.46655/federgi.842950

Abstract

Geographical research methods have been increasingly used in social sciences due to the interest in
how social behaviour and space are mutually constructed. However, there is still a limited number of
studies dealing with the application of such methods, the variety of produced data, and field
experiences. In this paper, I reflect on fieldwork experiences of my doctoral research, which
investigated how gender and class dynamics shape women’s experiences of leisure at the
neighbourhood level. During the eight-month fieldwork between 2014-2015, I used the methods of
the walk and talk interviews, focus groups with mapping exercises and participant observation in
leisure spaces of two differently-classed neighbourhoods in Bursa, Turkey. These methods provide
participants with new possibilities of expression, beyond verbal communication capacities, allowing
researchers to think about questions that may not necessarily arise in traditional sit-in interviews.
Therefore, this article concludes by suggesting that geographical methods can mirror the multilayered
and complex nature of gendered social relations

Keywords

gender, method, neighbourhood

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