[Last modified: October, 6 2024 10:21 PM]
For my pilot research project, I’d like to study the topic of women in Cairo and identity. I speak Egyptian Arabic and I’ve visited Cairo before, but in public I was mostly only able to interact with men. I want to learn more about the women who live there and how they express individualism. I have two research questions: How do these women explore and express self-identity? And does this differ when in public, on social media, at home, and in private online communities?
In Social Media in Emergent Brazil, Spyer indicates a difference between “lights on” and “lights off” presentation. I will explore how this theory interacts with the culture of Cairo. Do women living there present different versions of themselves based on who will see or hear? I know I have my own versions of “lights on” and “lights off” identity presentation as a woman who grew up in a U.S. Christian community.
With regard to ethics, I do bring certain biases to this topic with regards to religion, feminism, and Western vs. Middle Eastern culture. I intend to use methods that will present the various realities of these women as they see fit, with a focus on ethnography. I am an audio journalist, so audio recordings will play a large role, both via in-depth interviews and immersive “soundscape”-type recordings. I’ll also use critical discourse analysis in the form of sitting down with sources to scroll their social media and take notes on their explanations of images, text posts, and interactions. This will provide insight into how they view their own versions of “lights on” and “lights off” identity presentation.
One obstruction to this research may be finding access and building trust with this community. While I have a personal network that may be useful in this research, I am currently only acquainted with male colleagues in Cairo. I plan to use those connections as well as asking online groups in order to find willing interlocutors for this ethnography.
I believe this research proposal is both anthropological and ethnographic because it addresses the quotidian: day-to-day choices and interactions that add up to a sense of being. The research questions are open and flexible enough to change with new data. They are actionable because they involve traveling to the fieldsite, Cairo, and conducting ethnographic research within a specific community.