Linking the individual with the collective: experience and memory in feminist research

Abstract

This article consists of a critical reflection on the methodologies used in gender studies, and the constant tension that exists between individual and collective experience. Despite the genesis of the feminist movement from a collective experience of oppression, it is from ethnographic or autobiographical narratives that a collective memory is built, resulting from the interweaving of individual memory with the social memories of the group. The research supported by feminist theory seeks to contextualize the partial narratives of gender, within the framework of collective memory, of a larger and more aggregated group. In this context, the concept of the "feminist public counter-sphere" is analysed, as well as its capacity to extend into the discursive space. Counter-discourses, as well as the counter-public, are also part of the public space and contribute to a greater accountability of its institutions. This theme is fundamental to the study of the feminist view of the media, given its essential role in the projection of everyday life issues, with its conditioning, limitations and eloquent silences.