Doing gender research as a 'gendered subject': Challenges and sparks of being a dual-citizen woman researcher in Iran

Abstract

This contribution is based on the difficulties, challenges and stimuli faced during the months of field research conducted in Tehran for my PhD dissertation on transformations of gender roles in Iran. Therefore, it means to rethink the three main issues I faced during my ethnography in in a context characterized by peculiar social and cultural dynamics: the difficulties and advantages related to my condition of a woman who works on a topic full of nuances and complexities; my 'accented identity' as a researcher born and raised abroad but Iranian by affiliation; and the methodological and epistemological implications and dilemmas arisen in attempt to apply techniques and theories learned mainly within the Western academia.