Abstract
From a feminist post-structuralist position I recount and reflect upon using narrative methods in a recent study with a sample of nursery workers in London. Firstly, I offer a critical reflection of feminist concerns to undertake research in emancipatory and recipricol ways. The decision-making that took place at various stages of the study is explored to consider the tensions and ambiguities that come to characterise feminist post-structuralist approaches to narrative research. The paper concludes by arguing that there is still an important need to hear the stories of marginalised groups. However, to overcome concerns that ‘giving voice’ is unethical, arrogant, and partial then heightened transparency about decision- making and representation is vital.
Highlights
From a feminist post-structuralist position I recount and reflect upon using narrative methods in a recent study with a sample of nursery workers in London
The notion of ‘giving voice’ to marginalized groups through narrative methods has long been the focus of debate and has most recently been taken up by Mazzei & Jackson (2009) who identify a: ‘drive to make voices heard and understood, bringing meaning and self to consciousness and creating transcendental, universal truths [which] gestures towards the primacy of voice in conventional qualitative research’ (2009:1)
This paper offers reflections on how various stages of the research process must be carefully negotiated
Summary
I idealistically held the belief that ‘giving voice’ through hearing the stories of a sample of nursery workers could provide enormous http://www.rerm.hio.no emancipatory potential – a view widely shared by a number of participants and offered as their reason to engage with it. Second wave feminists (whose work was influential in shaping my approach at the outset of the study) stress the importance of creating non-hierarchical relationships with participants by processes of personal investment and disclosure and by appealing to commonalities and shared gendered (and classed) identities (Oakley, 1981; Skeggs, 1994).
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