The negotiations of Pakistani mothers’ agency with structure: towards a research practice of hearing ‘silences’ as a strategy

Journal article

Research shows that in Pakistan, daughters of educated mothers are likely to be enrolled in school, thus proposing a decontextualised relationship between mothers and their daughters’ education. This article draws on interview data to narratively analyse the situated experiences of Pakistani mothers for supporting their daughters’ education. When mothers’ life stories are analysed, a lifelong strategy of silences is revealed. Through the construct of silences, I challenge myself and other educational researchers to ‘unlearn’ the hegemonic epistemic cues that bind us to certain ways of knowing instead develop a critical openness to the perspectives of mothers and become ‘hearers’. This article situates itself within the debates on epistemic justice – proposing a practice of critical ‘hearing’ to understand the lifelong situated experiences of mothers in Pakistan.

Authors: Khalid, A

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Journal: Gender and Education
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 659-673
• Publication date: 2022-01-19
• Acceptance date: 2021-12-01
• DOI: 10.1080/09540253.2022.2027888
• EISSN: 1360-0516
• ISSN: 0954-0253
• Language: English
• Keywords: South Asia; sociology; structure; silences; agency; ethic of hearing; FFR; voice; girls; motherhood in Pakistan