‘Do life histories surface as time goes by?’: Longitudinal anthropological research, time and feminist knowledge production

Abstract

This article relates the biography of Aisaatou, an Islamic Fulani woman in North Cameroon, to the question of how to engage in ‘responsible’ feminist knowledge production. Through a longitudinal study, a time–space is created in which the ‘other’ is not constructed in terms of distance, spatial and temporal (Fabian 1983), but is included in the anthropological knowledge production and self-reflection. This is done through dialogues and discussions concerning the context of occurring changes – waves of Islamic fundamentalisms, new forms of Islamic schooling, access to new media etc. – within the ‘other's’ society, but also by including the people concerned in the ‘Time of Anthropology’, thus respecting their agency in knowledge production. The initial naïve knowledge and academic perspective faded in reality. By sharing this experience, I explore how the methodology of a longitudinal study attributes a special dimension to feminist research and (anthropological) knowledge production in general.