Women researching the military. The researcher-researched relationship through a gender sensitive perspective.

Focus of inquiry of this paper is the research process in the military setting. Its approach draws on reflexivity as a method of examining and interpreting reality. Reflexivity implies knowledge as interactional process, keeping together the analysis of: a) oneself as researcher, b) the research relationship c) how both affect the research process and its outcomes. By retrospectively examining the authors’ longstanding research experience with the Italian Armed forces, the paper discusses two issue of great methodological relevance - the asymmetry of the researcher-researched relationship and the positionality of the researcher - showing their distinctive character in the case of women researching the military. In male dominated military settings, outsiderness of female researchers is twofold deriving from them being both civilian and women. Moreover, the gender identity of female researchers often prevails over their professional identity. Thus, the usual power relationship between researcher and researched in the fieldwork appears reversed with the researcher being perceived as the weakest and non-threatening part. By re-reading and re-interpreting their professional history (using research notes, anecdotes, stories and biographical memories), the authors show how these distinctive features may not necessarily hamper women’s work in the field, but may actually be turned into advantages, thus facilitating the research process and bringing out the “dark side” of the military institution. In both cases, gender emerges as a major factor in the production of knowledge in military studies.