Cultural Sites of Meaning: Challenges and Pitfalls for Gender-Based Research

Abstract

This article classifies four constructs of feminist identity and focuses on the role and implication of these identities in an educational field research project which aims to empower girls in diverse school communities in South Africa through human rights education. The subject is explored by examining specific genres of knowledge and inquiry in feminist epistemology and educational philosophy and interrogating the implication when juxtaposed in the research process and outcomes. A central argument in this discourse is that both the researcher and subject participants experience gender, activism and consciousness in such a way as can be linked to type within the given classification. The conclusions of the article challenge the dominant construction of gender and power in the research process and outcomes and argue in light of the impact on the validity and theoretical development of the research project.