Silent voices: Notes from a young Muslim woman on acculturation in the United States

Abstract

This paper examines the gap between a researcher's positionality and theory building; seeing research through the lens of women of color in academia. Drawing on the autobiographical approach in feminist geography, I argue how a researcher's background and life events influence how we produce knowledge in the field by sharing my personal journey. Specifically, I share what it means to be a Middle Eastern Muslim academic conducting research on female immigrants' cultural adaptation process in the U.S. I urge readers to uncover the power of self-reflection, embodied subjectivity and emotions in expanding geographic research and conclude how the future research will benefit from the motives behind each study, as well as giving a reflexive researcher a platform to be heard.