Confronting Whiteness? Researching the leisure lives of South Asian mothers

Abstract

This paper reflects critical engagement with the development of feminist analyses of leisure and sport and more broadly debates within feminist theory and research epistemology and methodology. It focuses in particular upon the methodological issues raised in researching the leisure lives of South Asian mothers, examining critically the role of the white researchers involved. It argues that an approach based upon reflexivity with responsibility is a useful starting point from which to confront the dominant positions of white researchers within leisure and sport discourse. Comments from the research participants are used to contextualise debates surrounding the shifting boundaries of insider-outsider dynamics within the research and an assessment of how confronting whiteness is possible within the dynamic nature of feminist leisure theory and research.