Fieldwork within queer communities in Central Asia: a research note

ABSTRACT

Researchers researching and belonging to a marginalized community often must take additional measures to protect their research participants and themselves from verbal and physical harm. These are sentiments I, as a lesbian Kazakh woman, can certainly relate to. Apart from some accounts where local queer scholars reflect on their fieldwork in Central Asia, reflections of local scholars on their research experiences with queer communities in the region are rare. In this paper, I reflect on my experiences of navigating my insider status whilst researching intimate partner violence in same-sex couples in the region. While my shared sexuality, ethnicity and language skills made it easier for me to access and work with the marginalized queer community, my privileged social and class background marked me out as a ‘privileged’ outsider.

KEYWORDS:

• LGBTQ+
• fieldwork
• insider/outsider
• intimate partner violence
• Central Asia

Acknowledgements

I thank Dr Jasmin Dall’Agnola for her insightful comments and constructive feedback during the process of writing this research note.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Ethics statement

The study was approved by the American University of Central Asia Institutional Review Board (protocol number 2022122600000547), as part of my master’s thesis project requirements. Research participants received the consent form in a written format before the interview and reviewed it with an opportunity to ask questions. The written consent form included an overview of the research project, the goals of the study, the right to withdraw and refuse to answer any questions at any point of the interview, and additional information on psychological assistance options if the interview is too distressing. All participants gave verbal informed consent before the start of the interview. Consent to publish was obtained from all research participants. All the identifiable details and any images, videos or recordings can be published, and research participants gave informed consent for the article contents to be published.

Notes

1 In 2023, ‘Ne Molchi’ moved their call centre to Georgia due to constant surveillance and harassment from the law enforcement and secret services in Kazakhstan.