Methodologies for feminist peace research

This chapter focusses on the question of “how” in research. It argues that critical methodologies are key to the development of theory in feminist peace research. The chapter discusses some central skills and sensitivities of the feminist peace researcher such as reflexivity, critical scrutiny, and attendance to power relations. It outlines three broad methodological approaches that are particularly influential as powerful vehicles for feminist peace research: first, the chapter discusses ethnography with a focus on the analytical framing of the everyday, the contextualisation of agency, and the close reading of embodiment and experiences. Second, it outlines methodologies that seek to unpack the construction of gendered discourses and representations. Third, it discusses the role of quantitative methodologies and provides some examples of how the work to identify patterns and causal relations can forward a feminist peace research agenda. Separate or combined, these approaches conduct critical epistemological and ontological work and advance theory on gender, peace, and conflict.