Identifying ethical issues in conducting research with transwomen in India
Wellcome Trust
George Institute for Global Health
Research on trans communities including transwomen is extremely limited in India, inspite of the huge social and political injustices that they have suffered over ages. Trans communities are often a closed community and in India many of them become part of 'gharanas'. The gharana system is an institutionalized lifestyle, which defies the heteronormative idea of a family and is a place that makes transgenders feel safe and confident in their expression of identity. However, not everyone belongs to a gharana. In this project we will collaborate with a transwoman-led non-governmental organization in Kolkata, India. The main objective is to understand the ethical challenges of conducting research on transwomen and to develop a framework for undertaking ethical research with transwomen in India using qualitative research methods. We will interact with transwomen, understand ethical issues in conducting research with transwomen and identify and validate an appropriate ethical framework in consultation with transwomen using qualitative research methodology. We will use a feminist approach and the standpoint theory that postulates that an individual's perspectives are shaped by their social and political experiences. Narrative analysis of the qualitative data will be used to develop the final ethical framework in consultation with transwomen, prior to dissemination.
No Research Activity assigned