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Engaging to transform: Hearing black women's voices
International Journal of Qualitative Studies In Education
Abstract
Denzin & Lincoln (1994) define five historical moments in qualitative research and present ideas for future moments that focus on dialogue and storytelling of lived experiences in locally situated communities. Our learning community (teacher and students) in an introductory graduate qualitative research course listened to each others' talk on black feminist writings. I used students' reflections to begin to define a powerful moment for the future of qualitative research, the "crisis of de-communitization." This crisis reveals that globalization, environmental degradation, and economic exploitation are eroding the framework for care and nurture in our local communities. Therefore, it invites qualitative researchers to become engaged pedagogues within our communities to create spaces for "honest talk" that opens our hearts and minds to the pains and joys of social diversity. In this moment, qualitative researchers are challenged to write through the lens of difference by committing to four major components that define ways to move out of the crisis: eros, morality, empowerment, and transformation.
... However, it is also important that researchers do not constrain their research before it begins by relying exclusively on well-funded and " visible " links to the African Caribbean communities. It is imperative that time and effort is devoted early on in a study to uncovering both the similarities and differences between the social networks of African Caribbean communities and other minority ethnic groups in a locality (Narayanasamy, 1999a; Pilcher, 2001). Achieving this may mean investing time in uncovering the often less well-known (outside the African Caribbean community), but well-respected voluntary projects (Price & Cortis, 2000; Robinson, 1998). ...
... In practice an approach based on respect for cultural norms should underpin the research process as a whole (Brah et al., 1999; Collins, 1998). Culturally congruent approaches incorporate this respect as an inherent part of the research process, directing and determining the process from development of the research question to evaluation and reflection on the results (Mirza, 1995; Pilcher, 2001; Rattansi & Westwood, 1994). Taking in account the relationship between the culturally specific and shared aspects of the African Caribbean experience to the research process as a whole, the researcher is better able to equip himself/herself with the necessary information and resources required to facilitate a culturally congruent approach to the study (Serrant-Green, 2001b). ...
Researchers may not feel equipped to conduct qualitative research with ethnic minority communities in England because they may lack of culturally sensitive research skills. The aim of this paper is to explore how researchers might integrate culturally sensitive research skills into their work. This paper draws on our own experiences of conducting research with African Caribbean communities in England, and from workshops we facilitated with researchers and community representatives. The purpose of the workshops was to establish the most pertinent issues in conducting research with ethnic minority communities in England. We gathered data from the participants and created themes based on the discussions: establishing the need for an inclusive approach to research, issues around recruitment, respecting cultural norms, and dealing with disclosure
... Through the inquiry process, we intend our dialogue to create a space where teachers can talk openly with their hearts and minds about the pain and joy their own students' experience (Gouzouasis & Lee, 2009;Pilcher, 2001), as well as how it interferes with their students' focus on academics. In Andy's case, he categorises himself as someone who feels trapped in some kind of pattern that pushes him away from intimacy. ...
... For example, Mitchell and Reid (2001) illustrate that, in Taquile Island, Peru, women are less vocalized than men at community tourism meetings but are acknowledged by their husbands as very influential in decision-making for their family and community. Gender inequality is also reported by other scholars, including Van Der Duim et al. (2006), Cornwall (2003) and Pilcher (2001). Although much of these studies illustrate women's disempowered positions in tourism, Ishii (2012) revealed that women and younger people were more economically empowered than older men in one particular Thai indigenous group, suggesting disruption of a patriarchal social system through tourism. ...
While resident empowerment has been a central aspect of the sustainable tourism literature, difficulties of putting the concept into practice have been noted given the heterogeneous nature of communities. “Community” is often divided by kinship, age, gender and ethnicity, and such division may influence the perceptions of empowerment. The goal of this study was to better understand heterogeneous perceptions of empowerment by administering the Resident Empowerment through Tourism Scale within the community of Oizumi, Japan. Oizumi has the highest concentration of Brazilian immigrants in Japan, and the town has embraced “ethnic neighborhood tourism” centered on Brazilian culture as a strategy for economic development. Oizumi's demographic makeup allowed for testing differences in perceived empowerment between members of the dominant ethnic group (Japanese) and members of the ethnic minority group (Japanese Brazilians). Analysis of 650 completed questionnaires revealed that Brazilians felt more psychologically and socially empowered than Japanese residents, indicating a shift in the balance of power between the ethnic groups. Results also revealed that the political dimension of empowerment was rated relatively low among both groups, suggesting a general lack of opportunities to participate in the planning process. Implications for both practice and theory are presented.比较日本群马县大泉町地区两种不同文化背景常住人口的居民增权水平摘要： 居民增权一直是可持续旅游研究的核心，但基于社区不同划分方式产生的异质性，使其在实际应用中存在一定困难。本文采用居民增权与旅游测量法（RETS），对日本巴西移民最集中并正在发展少数民族区旅游的大泉町地区进行研究，探讨了当地日本人及日裔巴西人对增权的不同认知。研究显示：巴西人在心理及社会增权方面较日本人有更显著地感受，说明了不同种族间权力的转移；而双方均缺少机会参与规划过程解释了在政治增权方面的较低评分。
... Through the inquiry process, we intend our dialogue to create a space where teachers can talk openly with their hearts and minds about the pain and joy their own students' experience (Gouzouasis & Lee, 2009;Pilcher, 2001), as well as how it interferes with their students' focus on academics. In Andy's case, he categorises himself as someone who feels trapped in some kind of pattern that pushes him away from intimacy. ...
The crux of this inquiry is an autoethnographic tale of a teacher and an adolescent student. Together, we take a journey that explores the difficulties of love and relationships that teenagers express through their song lyrics, the challenges of playing guitar, and how often these difficulties occupy their attention throughout a typical school day. Through an etymological exploration, we theorize how autoethnography becomes a polydimensional form of research inquiry. What differentiates the present inquiry from existing literature is that it is told from the perspective of teachers and young learners engaged in classroom and studio music making. Also, our focus moves from the self, to include the other, as well as the (s)p(l)aces in which we live, and we approach our tale in a relational manner. Our story examines, elaborates, and (de/re)constructs music making through the eyes, ears, heart, and mind of the young learner. As such, we are concerned with developing a new way of conceptualizing and writing about music pedagogy for the pre-K through Grade 12 learner.
... I am not glorifying the good ole days of struggle and subsistence for blacks in segregated America. I am setting forth that blacks are once again in a precarious position in contemporary America as major housing, economic, employment, and health studies show them suffering from the effects of globalization, the crises of decommunization, and assimilation (Pilcher, 2001). This chapter suggests a concept of community rooted not in geography but in a community that is bound by common struggle. ...
... Their relationship 'has progressed to the point where we communicate on many levels' (Gouzouasis & Lee, 2002, p. 127). The dialogue invites, 'qualitative researchers to become engaged pedagogues within our communities and to create spaces for honest talk that opens our hearts and minds to the pains and joys of social diversity' (Pilcher, 2001, p. 283). A dialogue approach invites readers into the writer's world (Plummer, 2001) of social science research and emphasizes how qualitative researchers are searching for ways to tell stories (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994). ...
The following scenes reveal an emotional dialogue between a graduate supervisor and doctoral student. It reflects the importance of supervisors providing emotional support for graduate students during their academic studies. Although the doctoral student is reflecting upon whether to disclose her personal issues with him, he takes the time to talk and comfort her during a challenging time in her life. Overall, reflecting upon emotional support as part of the mentoring relationship becomes transformative as it deepens their personal and professional relationship.
... This perspective has been explored in detail through the work of Foucault, particularly in relation to sexuality and sexual expression and acted as the catalyst to the author's thoughts around linking political or moral acceptability in a society to the validation (or otherwise) of personal experiences (see Foucault, 1998 Foucault, , 2002). The historical and political domination of research from the dominant perspective in this society, therefore, influences not only the interpretation of research but also the type of research projects conducted and funded in the public arena (Millen, 1997; Pilcher, 2001). This results in a situation where 'gaps' exist in the terms of the range of approaches, experiences and viewpoints presented through research and in the type of studies conducted (Hammersley, 1995; Mason, 2002). ...
Abstract
This paper arises from the conceptual framework underpinning a research study focusing on black
Caribbean men’s sexual decisions and health behaviour. In investigating these issues the notion of
‘screaming silences’ was developed to unite the theoretical and philosophical approaches that
underpinned the research, the experiences of the researcher and participants involved. While
‘screaming silences’ was initially applied to a sexual health and ethnicity context it provides a
useful basis for a theoretical framework for researching sensitive issues or the health care needs
of marginalised populations. ‘Screaming silences’ (or ‘silences’) define areas of research and
experience which are little researched, understood or silenced. ‘Silences’ reflect the unsaid or
unshared aspects of how beliefs, values and experiences of (or about) some groups affect their
health and life chances. They exposed issues which shape, influence and inform both individual and
group understandings of health and health behaviour. This paper presents the notion of ‘screaming
silences’ with reference to the original study and maps out a four-stage framework for its
utilisation in ethnicities based and sensitive research. It is presented here for use by other
researchers as a vehicle for exposing additional perspectives in studies involving sensitive
subjects or marginalised populations.
Over time, research has suggested there are sometimes tensions arising from differences in the way African Americans and Black Caribbean immigrants in the United States perceive each other as part of the African diaspora. In this autoethnographic study, I explore personal experiences with cross-cultural misperceptions between Black female students in three U.S. higher education settings. I use critical race feminism and dialogue education to tell my story, analyzing my encounters and cultural frame of reference and its relationship to Black identity in the United States, and calling for increased dialogue between and among diverse Black females in adult education settings.
To better understand how researchers author social responsibility, the authors closely examined the “privileged” language in Mitchell Duneier’s and Carol Stack’s ethnographic texts and the ways that they transformed their positions without decentering the voices of those living in poor communities. The authors then describe how these texts consider a new ethnographic sensibility for economic injustice that forces ethnographers to assume responsibilities for intersecting social class with all other oppressive structures. This ethnographic sensibility involves ethnographers writing texts that broaden and transform standpoints of economically privileged persons living and working in our local communities. That is, when ethnographers position their texts from a social class standpoint, they automatically change the dimensions of how individuals interrupt and explain race, gender, and other social injustices. The authors propose that to better understand hierarchical structures that dominate society in today’s world, ethnographers must responsibly position their texts from this standpoint. Specifically, the language of the text visibly indicates the ethnographers understood (a) that they entered a field to work with their participants to transform public consciousness, (b) how to participate in an environment where people live on the social sidelines, and (c) their responsibility in writing a reflexive text from an antihegemonic standpoint that identifies the strengths and struggles of the participants.
This article examines the potential contradictions of conducting a collaborative self-study research project within a poststructural framework. It is a discussion about the use of theory in self-study research, rather than a report of research findings. The discussion is shaped through (re)consideration of a collaborative self-study doctoral research project. To consider the tensions between poststructural theory and self-study methodology, I first outline key aspects of humanism and link these to the underpinnings of self-study. Next, I discuss potential connections between poststructural theory and self-study research. I then provide a poststructural analysis of the use of experience in the self-study data to demonstrate ways in which theory can support us to (re)view taken for granted concepts in education. Finally, I propose that self-study researchers may find poststructural theory useful as a means to think differently about our current practices and to consider the potential effects of proposed practices.
The author auto‐ethnographically reflects on the emotional struggle with her father's death. The haunting memory of their last conversation empowers her during the lengthy mourning process. She ‘reconstructs the event so that it can be integrated into her life story’ [J. H. Harvey (1996) Embracing Their Memory: Loss and Social Psychology of Storytelling, Allyn & Bacon, MA, p. 191]. Memories of their relationship resurface as the emotional landscape involves love, strength, denial, compassion, withdrawal and helplessness. The reflection explores the educative process of writing from the heart. It also shares multicultural funeral rites and how they differ from traditional North American funerals. At a deeper level, writing the auto‐ethnography becomes cathartic as it helps ‘break ties between the bereaved and the dead to achieve a good adjustment’ (Ibid., p. 138). It also explores theory, practice, and innovation that embed voices in health and education in order to enlighten practice. In the end, reflecting on the memory of her father's last words becomes a transformative educational process as it provides a heightened awareness about grief, loss, bereavement and the importance of the father–daughter relationship.
This essay addresses a particular aspect of contemporary debates about identity, identity politics, and multiculturalism: specifically, the implications of these discussions for political action in general and coalition politics in particular. How do we move beyond a liberal-democratic understanding of politics that denies that cultural differences are relevant to political behavior in order to confront the realities of a multicultural world? And if we do transform our liberal-pluralist conception of politics into one that can take into account the ways our needs and self-conceptions may be fundamentally affected by differing cultural, racial, gender, class, and other contexts, how do we do so without "freezing" identities in ways that both misrepresent their complexities and, at the same time, may make coalitions and alliances impossible?
Lesbian feminism began and has fueled itself with the rejection of liberalism.... In this rejection, lesbian feminists were not alone. They were joined by the New Left, by many blacks in the civil rights movement, by male academic theorists.... What all these groups shared was an intense awareness of the ways in which liberalism fails to account for the social reality of the world, through a reliance upon law and legal structure to define membership, through individualism, through its basis in a particular conception of rationality." In tracing how lesbian feminism came to be defined in uneasy relationships with the Women s Movement and gay rights groups, Shane Phelan explores the tension between liberal ideals of individual rights and tolerance and communitarian ideals of solidarity. The debate over lesbian sado-masochism an expression of individual choice or pornographic, anti-feminist behavior? is considered as a test case. Phelan addresses the problems faced by "the woman-identified woman" in a liberal society that presumes heterosexuality as the biological, psychological, and moral standard. Often silenced by laws defining their sexual behavior as criminal and censured by a medical establishment that persists in defining homosexuality as perversion, lesbians, like blacks and other groups, have fought to have the same rights as others in their communities and even in their own homes. Lesbian feminists have also sought to define themselves as a community that would be distinctly different, a community that would disavow the traditional American obsession with individual advancement in the world as it is. In this controversial study of political philosophy and the women s movement, Phelan argues that "the failure to date to produce a satisfying theory and program for lesbian action is reflective of the failure of modern political thinking to produce a compelling, nonsuspect alternative to liberalism.
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