Migrant women servants in Amman and backpackers in Bangkok

Abstract

This chapter aims to reflect on the implementation of a particular methodology based on ‘walking interviews’ in two fieldwork studies with mobile groups in Jordan and in Thailand. Comparing the research focus of our two doctoral projects on women migrant domestic workers in Amman (Daphné) and on backpackers in Bangkok (Brenda), we would like to share here common results and reflections on this method in order to understand mobile groups’ spatiality and urban construction. More generally, this chapter contributes to understanding how a ‘mobile’ method—walking interviews—may be used to grasp the specificities of mobile and migrant groups in cities. The objective is to show how this method is particularly relevant for observing and analyzing the presences of mobile groups in cities, and their participation in the production of urban space and life. This work also opens up questions on innovative and feminist methods that allow for the persons interviewed to express themselves more freely, which facilitates the co-construction of knowledge. We focus on understanding how the walking-interview method can allow research participants to participate actively in the research process as a more inclusive way of doing research. This cross-cutting, reflexive approach allowed us to place our two studies in perspective and to highlight how qualitative methods can contribute to urban studies of mobile groups in the city.