Silence at the Intersection: Essentialism and Truncation of Experience

• In Event: Roundtable Session 100
  In Roundtable Session: Challenging Epistemologies and Methodologies That Frame Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Research

Abstract

Especially in the so-called “soft sciences,” the wisdom emerging through lived experience plays an important role in intellectual debate and theory-building. Certainly, there are drawbacks to reliance on personal experience, most notably that personal experience can be used to justify all manner of abhorrent practices, attitudes, and theories.

In fields that deal with sensitive, highly personal issues, another risk becomes apparent: That of revictimizing members of vulnerable groups through silencing, hostility, or dismissal of their experiences. In this paper, I explore a form of silencing that I label “truncation.” I begin to identify characteristics of truncation and chart a path toward avoiding, when possible, this revictimizing practice.

Author

• Jenna McWilliams, Indiana University