Open AccessMotherhood, Migration and Methodology: Giving Voice to the Other
Author(s) -
Ruth De Souza
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the qualitative report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2160-3715
DOI - 10.46743/2160-3715/2004.1919
Subject(s) - positivism , hegemony , sociology , grounded theory , reproduction , gender studies , set (abstract data type) , qualitative research , order (exchange) , social science , epistemology , political science , ecology , philosophy , finance , politics , computer science , law , economics , biology , programming language
This paper discusses the need for multi-cultural methodologies that develop knowledge about the maternity experience of migrant women and that are attuned to women’s maternity-related requirements under multi-cultural conditions. Little is known about the transition to parenthood for mothers in a new country, particularly when the country is New Zealand. This paper will challenge the positivist hegemony of previously completed research on migrant women by reflecting on my own experience as a researcher grounded in a broadly-based, pluralistic set of critical epistemologies that allowed me to uncover the issues and contexts that impacted on the experience of migrant women. It concludes by proposing that, where research occurs with minority groups, multiple research strategies are incorporated in order to prevent the reproduction of deficiency discourses.