Re-searching and re-positioning the self and the field : investigating the nation-state through narratives from the borders

This chapter draws on the work of two researchers, one with Bangladeshi women in prison in India and another with traditional artists in Mithila in India. Thought appearing diametrically opposite to one another, the research topics come together through the individual pedagogical and methodological journeys of the researchers and the presence of border narratives. The chapter seeks to use the context of these journeys and narratives to nuance the idea of ‘Asia as a Method’ through a feminist perspective that is not only cognisant but also constitutive of epistemological standpoints of multiple, intersectional marginalities. There is a need to pave the way for frameworks and perspectives that demolish hegemonic understandings of the nation-state and generate new insights for a transformative politics ahead.