Examining gender constructs in international relations fieldwork
Dr Kesahb Giri was appointed lecturer in the School of International Relations this year. His research focuses on gender and war, intersectionality, intimacy and violent politics, and feminist research methods.
His paper, A Decolonial Feminist Politics of Fieldwork: Centering Community, Reflexivity, and Loving Accountability, was published in the journal International Studies Review in 2024. It explores the history of critical approaches to fieldwork in international relations.
International studies have benefited from ideas in anthropology, peace and conflict studies, geography, and other fields, offering researchers helpful reflections for fieldwork. In his essay, Dr Giri traces the development of critical approaches to fieldwork, starting with early research that highlighted the importance of reflecting on the researcher’s position and the power dynamics involved.
Drawing on decolonial feminist scholarship, he explains how reflective practices have developed, focusing on the researchers’ role and the concept of “the field.” This approach leads to a rethinking of key ideas, such as who the “researcher” and “research participant” are, what counts as “data,” and what “knowledge” means.
Dr Giri’s approach to fieldwork is grounded in feminist, decolonial, anti-racist, and anti-capitalist politics. This approach not only encourages critical reflection but also challenges the systems that create separations between the researcher and the researched, or between the “here” and “there.”
Dr Giri is also a Research Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School, USA, and a member of the Gender, Justice and Security Hub, a multi-partner research network which includes over 40 partner organizations and 120 researchers around the world.