Resumen de Taboo Topics? Women, Adolescents and Artisans
While these topics are far from taboo today, when I first tried to do research on rural Moroccan women in the late 1960s, I was told funding would not be granted; apparently gender was not a serious topic. Awarded a grant for another topic, once in Morocco I felt compelled to pursue gender. But on return to the US, the granting agency asked me to refund them my grant! Fortunately, my advisor supported me, and my research became an early book on women in Morocco. Adolescents and artisans were less “controversial” topics, but limited research existed in both areas. Findings on Moroccan adolescents included large gender differences in normative behavior, sexual practices, and changing gender relations. Previous work on artisans concerned products, not the producers; my work includes both. It provides insights into how weavers feel about pricing rugs, or using natural dyes, or why and how women might form a cooperative to make jellaba buttons. This article describes difficulties encountered in dealing with these topics, and important findings resulting from being able to do so
