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The "Other" Gender?: Reflections on Fieldwork in Benin

Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dfalen{at}agnesscott.edu.

	Abstract

While there are undoubtedly real barriers to men doing research on women, these barriers loom larger than they are. Despite the deconstruction of essentialized gender categories, the anthropology of gender and women continue to be the domain of women. This reflexive account of anthropological fieldwork among women in Benin documents the mistakes and successes the author has experienced, while arguing that the challenges exist not only in the field setting, but in the Academy and in the ethnographer’s mind. The essay concludes with a plea to reinvigorate the anthropology of gender by attending to the possibilities for men to understand women’s lives both through interaction with men as well as with women.

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