Challenging Scientific Objectivity: Feminist Positioning Through the Lens of a Kurdish Activist “Insider” Researcher

Feminist research processes have demonstrated that scientific research cannot be considered independent of the researcher’s interests, desires, needs, and fears. Accordingly, in addition to the research questions, the impact of the researcher’s subjectivity and personal experiences on the research process transformed to be positioned as too important to be ignored. Feminist research practice, as a methodological premise, redefines those being studied as “subjects” rather than “objects” and positions the researcher as “affected and positioned” rather than “objective and neutral.” This feminist positioning has direct implications for research. This study evaluates the methodological and conceptual framework of the research process in the light of feminist epistemology and discusses the effects of the subjectivity and reflexivity of the researcher on the field experiences and the data obtained.In this context, this article examines the (new) contexts, tensions, and affective dynamics that emerge in the relationship between the researcher and the research subject, as well as between the researcher and the participants. Drawing on experiences, observation protocols, and research journals from the fieldwork conducted for my doctoral study, which focused on the empowerment experiences of women activists within the Kurdish Women’s Movement in Germany, and explores the impact of these factors on the research process. Within this framework, the “third eye” metaphor stands out as a critical tool for understanding and making sense of the experiences of both the researcher and the participants.