Ethnographic Approaches to Studying Technology

In this session, Dr Asiya Islam will present and discuss her scholarship on gendered inequalities and the promises of empowerment through work, which is rooted in critical feminist approaches to ethnography. She will examine the gendered digital divide as experienced by Indian women, reflecting on how ethnographic methods have enabled her to approach this subject, and the challenges it has entailed. There will also be space for more open discussion of ethnographic approaches to studying digital technologies, especially in Global South contexts.

Outcomes

Participants will:

• Develop a better understanding of how ethnographic methods might be used to study the implications of digital technologies;
• Understand the challenges and opportunities of ethnographic research;
• Reflect on the specific challenges of researching digital technology adoption and usage in the Global South.

Contributors

Dr Asiya Islam is an Assistant Professor in Gender, Development and Globalization at the London School of Economics (LSE). Her work focuses on gendered inequalities and the promises of empowerment through work, rooted in critical feminist approaches to ethnography. She is the author of ‘A Woman’s Job: Making Middle Lives in Urban India’ (Cambridge University Press), and has editorial roles at Feminist Review; New Technology, Work and Employment; and the ethnographic storytelling magazine ‘Otherwise’.

Professor Charles Umney is Professor of International Work and Employment at the University of Leeds, and Deputy Director of the WRDTP’s Space, Place Environment and Liveability (SPEL) Pathway.

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