Articles

Blog - Researching lesbian stories globally

Author : Saskia Wieringa

For the past week eleven researchers from eight countries have been discussing the results of the research they did over the past year. Nursyahbani Katjasungkana and I were the facilitators of this workshop which was held in Pretoria, South Africa. The project was carried out under the umbrella of the small Trans/sign network, set up by my colleague Evelyn Blackwood and I, with the help of Paul Jansen from Hivos and Esther Vonk from MamaCash specially to conduct research on transpersons and women in same-sex relations worldwide. This is the first project of Trans/sign, in collaboration with the Kartini Asia Network, which works only in Asia and which is coordinated by Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, while I am the secretary of the board. One of the five themes the KAN group works on is sexuality. This Trans/sign project was funded by the Riek Stienstra Foundation and the Kartini Network, which again is funded by the Ford Foundation and Hivos. It seems a complicated structure but it shows how we creatively managed to collect some modest funds to do this much needed research. In contrast to research on male forms of homosexuality, which are now widely funded within the framework of HIV/AIDS research, there has been hardly any research done in the so called  ‘global south’ on women in same sex relationships. At least, not by researchers living in those countries themselves. Some western-based anthropologists such as Evelyn and myself have carried out research on ‘lesbian others’ which has mainly resulted in academic publications. This project was designed by the groups of which the researchers formed part and is intended to feed into advocacy work. For that purpose mainly oral history techniques were used, to create life stories of women loving women in these different contexts.

When we put out the call for this research, many activist-researchers jumped to the occasion. As the funds were very limited for such an ambitious project, from the start the groups managed their work carefully. Much research was done voluntarily, the money being spent only on expenses, such as travelling to remote parts of the country to collect interviews.
 
Some researchers had already received some training on sexuality studies and oral history, for instance through the three training courses the KAN network conducted in India and Indonesia. For most this was the first research experience on women’s same-sex relations, and for all oral history was a novel technique. We first came together in Hanoi, April 2009, in the framework of the biannual conference of the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Society and Culture, in which the coordinators of the sexuality theme of the Kartini Network (Abha Bhaiya, Tesa de Vela and I)  participate in various functions (I am a past president).
 
In Hanoi the researchers received a preliminary training on theories of sexuality and fieldwork techniques such as oral history and participant observation. We drafted the outlines of their research plans there, based on the unique needs of each group.  We finalized the proposals through email. Halfway a progress report was produced and throughout the year experiences were shared.  The team in Kolkata for instance was confronted with the violent death of one of the participants. Prior to her death she had written letters to her partner, who also formed part of the research. What to do with those letters? To whom do they belong? Who can be seen as the legitimate heir to whom consent could be asked to disclose the circumstances of this violent incident?  We all decided that as a formal marriage between the partners was impossible and as both her family and her official husband had committed such acts of abuse, her partner would be considered as the heir we would recognize, and that her consent would be sought as to which parts of the letters could be made public.
 
This particular research in Kolkata focused on violence, mapping out the abuse, discrimination and violations of their rights women-loving-women (WLW) experience in India. But in all other accounts too violence was a major theme. The more than 300 participants who were interviewed in over 10 different languages, spoke of the silence in which they lived their lives, their invisibility, the abuse they experienced in their families, incest, rape, forced marriages. They also outlined the reasons they dropped out early from school and why they were expelled from their jobs, or were never hired, and about the myriad ways they were marginalized and stigmatized.
 
The output of this research varies from a full length book, to books with narratives of the stories of these women’s lives, research reports, academic articles, video documentaries, leaflets, brochures and oral history databases. In the course of this project a lesbian women’s organizations were set up (in Surabaya). In Indonesia, The Philippines and Central Asia the focus of the investigation was on organizing WLW. In three countries (Bangladesh, Botswana Sri Lanka) this was the first research done on lesbian women. The projects in Jakarta, Johannesburg and Mumbai focused on women who in various ways identified as masculine. The researcher in the Pretoria project collected stories of lesbian women who faced mental distress. At the end of the workshop we designed a programme of advocacy for each project, based on the research. Insyallah we will find some funds for that as well.
 
At night, under the clear African sky, with a glass of good South African wine, we shared our personal stories in this intensive project. Fortunately we only experienced one violent act in the course of this workshop. During a short fieldtrip to a nearby reserve for lions Nur was attacked by a ferocious female. The fence protected her but in her fright she fell and twisted a finger. That could be cured with balm. But the violence experienced by ourselves and our respondents will remain with us and strengthen us in our resolve to expose it, in the hope to reduce it for the generations of women loving women who come after us.
 
Saskia Wieringa