Researching infertility in British South Asian communities: reflecting on intersections of ethnicity, age, gender, and reproductive identity

Abstract

This paper explores these relationships of gender and ethnicity within a study of the experience of infertility among 87 British South Asians, in which the researcher was a woman of white British ethnic origin. Age, gender, language, ethnicity, educational status and reproductive history all played a role in shaping relationships in this study and demonstrate the relational re-production of identity through research interactions. Differently configured ethnic identities between the researcher and the participants played a role in shaping the data collection, but did not appear to have a negative impact on the research. It is argued that the need for 'matching' of researchers and participants by reference to an essentialised understanding of aspects of social difference is flawed, and a more nuanced consideration of this relationship is required among social science researchers.