This article reports on the problem of obtaining reproductive histories from women in the slums of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Access to women in these slums is controlled by several gatekeepers. The gatekeeper problem is common in all field research, but the problem is particularly difficult when the research involves interviewing young Muslim women on the sensitive issue of reproductive health and family planning.
Afsar, R.2000. Rural-urban migration in Bangladesh: Causes, consequences and challenges. Dhaka, Bangladesh: University Press Limited.
2.
Atkinson, P., A. Coffey, S. Delamont, J. Lofland, and L. Lofland, eds. 2001. Handbook of ethnography. London: Sage.
3.
Aziz, K.M.A., and C. Maloney.1985. Life stages, gender and fertility in Bangladesh. Dhaka, Bangladesh: ICDDR, B.
4.
Bernard, H. R., ed. 1998. Handbook of methods in cultural anthropology. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.
5.
Blanchet, T.1984. Women, pollution and marginality: Meaning and rituals of birth in rural Bangladesh. Dhaka, Bangladesh: University Press Limited.
6.
Bourgois, P.1995. In search of respect: Selling crack in El Barrio. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
7.
Cassell, J.2002. Perturbing the system: “Hard science,” “soft science,” and social science, the anxiety of madness and method. Human Organization61 (2): 177—85.
8.
DailyStar. 2002. Slum eviction in Pollabi, Mirpur. Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 26.
9.
DeVita, P.R.1992. The naked anthropologist: Tales from around the world . Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
10.
Dewalt, K., and B.R. Dewalt.1998. Participant observation. In Handbook of methods in cultural anthropology, edited by H. R. Bernard, 259—99. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.
11.
Duke, K.2002. Getting beyond the “official line”: Reflections on dilemmas of access, knowledge and power in researching policy networks . Journal of Social Policy31 (1): 39—59.
12.
Fleisher, M.S.1995. Beggars and thieves: Lives of urban street criminals. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
13.
Harrington, B.2003. The social psychology of access in ethnographic research . Journal of Contemporary Ethnography32 (5): 592—625.
14.
Islam, N.1996. The urban poor in Bangladesh. Dhaka , Bangladesh: Centre for Urban Studies.
15.
Lamb, S.1992. White saris and sweet mangoes. Aging, gender and body in North India. Berkeley: University of California Press.
16.
Lee, R.L., and C.M. Renzetti.1993. The problems of researching sensitive topics: An overview and introduction. In Researching sensitive topics, edited by C. M. Renzetti and M. L. Raymond, 3—14. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
17.
Paul-Majumder, P., S. Mahmud, and R. Afsar.1996. The squatters of Dhaka City. Dynamism in the life of Agargaon squatters. Dhaka, Bangladesh: University Press Limited.
18.
Proshika.1993. Slum eviction of Balurmat Basti. Unpublished Bengali report. Proshika, “A Centre for Human Development,” Dhaka, Bangladesh.
19.
Rozario, S.1992. Purity and communal boundaries. Women and social change in a Bangladeshi village. Women in Asia Publication Series , edited by Susan Blackburn.London/Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Zed Books.
20.
Shaffir, W. B., and R. A. Stebbins, eds. 1991. Experiencing fieldwork: An inside view of qualitative research. Newbury Park, CA : Sage.
21.
Spradley, J.1980. Participant observation. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
22.
Sterk, C.E.1989. Prostitution, drug use, and AIDS. In In the field: Readings on the field research experience, edited by C. D. Smith and W. Kornblum , 91—100. New York: Praeger.
23.
White, S.C.1992. Arguing with the crocodile: Gender and class in Bangladesh. Dhaka, Bangladesh: University Press Limited.
24.
Whyte, W.F.1943. Street corner society: The social structure of an Italian slum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
25.
Wood, G.1998. Desperately seeking security in Dhaka slums. Discourse: A Journal of Policy Studies2 (2): 77—87 (Proshika, Dhaka).