Description

Disciplinary crossings and methodological contaminations in gender research: A psycho-anthropological survey on Neapolitan femminielli

EUGENIO ZITO

University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

Abstract

In this article I provide an example of gender research conducted by a mixed method in which the scientific explanation, the contextual understanding and the significant interpretation of the observed phenomenon within a theoretical frame of reference find their meeting point at the intersection of qualitative and quantitative approaches. By exploring a peculiar reality of Naples, the femminielli, men who feel and live like women and who could be included in the diverse transgender universe, I moved to a mixed research model in the inter-multi-disciplinary perspective of gender studies. This model is characterized by disciplinary crossings and methodological contaminations and involves the use of hermeneutics, but it is controlled by statistical quantitative procedures. In particular, the theoretical framework chosen leads to an integration of psychological theories about gender with anthropological perspectives, to offer an interpretation of a phenomenon characterized by a very strong ethno-psycho-social connotation.

Keywords: mixed methods, psychology, anthropology, gender studies, transgender