This paper takes positionality as a lens to discuss how being Muslim and conducting research with other Muslims brings this facet of one's positionality to the fore in ways that shaped fieldwork relations and the research process. Specifically, this paper is informed by my fieldwork experience as a Muslim male conducting ethnographic research on migration and labour precarity with, and in the company of, other Muslim migrants across Taiwan. Through developing friendships, joining activities, serendipitous encounters during Salat al-Jumu'ah, weekend visits, and overnights stays, I began to spend more time across a diversity of Muslim spaces as fieldwork progressed. 1 In this sense, being Muslim provided privileged access and shaped my understanding of migrant experiences in ways that were beyond pre-planned fieldwork activities. It also offered an insightful standpoint from which I could better understand the research context and my own social positioning in the field. In thinking with the unplanned ways constant emphasis on such a strong commonality between the researcher and the researched generated valuable insights, this paper argues that 'Muslim geographies' can serve as a productive starting point to further problematise accounts of knowledge, subjectivity, and power in geography.

No abstract

No abstract