Feminist Methodology and Disadvantaged Communities: To understand Dom and Abdal

This study presents the methodological discussion of the fieldwork of the project named “’Being educated is a distant dream to us’ Dom and Abdal Children’s Education in Turkey: The cases of Antep and Urfa”. Focusing on the processes that make it difficult and easier to reach the participants in the field, this study analyses the situations that play a role in the insider/outsider positioning of the researcher in the interviews held with a “fluid” method. While the power relations between the researcher and the participant are handled with an intersectional perspective, the dilemmas in researcher’s role to providing of well-being of participants in projects conducted with disadvantaged participants are discussed through feminist ethic. Although there are many studies on disadvantaged communities such as Dom and Abdal in Turkey, there are not many studies focusing on methodological discussions. Aiming to fill this gap in the Turkish literature, this study will propose to researchers who focus mostly on Gypsy/Nomadic communities working in precarious and low-income jobs, to refer to feminist method discussions. Since, the feminist method provides an understanding ground that will enable the researcher to realize the hierarchies in the field, the instability of “privileged” positions, and the subjectivity of the participants.