Listen, and you will-hear

reflections on interviewing from a feminist phenomenological perspective

Louise Levesque-Lopman

pp. 103-132

in: Linda Fisher, Lester Embree (eds), Feminist phenomenology, Berlin, Springer, 2000

Abstract

Contemporary feminist critique continues to reveal conventional sociological methods and theoretical frameworks of analysis that are fundamentally at odds with or exclude from inquiry the multiple realities of women's lived experiences. In light of this and other feminist principles, this paper explores the extraordinary potential of feminist phenomenology as a tool for research that concerns itself with "starting from women's experiences." Applied to in-depth interviews/oral histories, this means learning to "listen in stereo"—to listen with restraint to the meanings of the experience of the respondents. It also means applying to the interview situation a feminist framework that builds connections and avoids alienation of the researcher from the participants.