"May I Come In?" Examining and Humanizing Entry Into Research Spaces

• In Event: School Discipline to Prison to Reentry: (Up)Setting the Pipeline

Abstract

Paris (2011) advocates for research to be humanizing--a “methodological stance” centered on “the building of relationships of care and dignity for both researchers and participants” (pp. 139-140). Paris and others have added much to the literature advocating for the need to humanize and decolonize research in and with communities. This conceptual piece is based upon these foundations to examine the notion of entering research spaces in humanizing ways. The question guiding this work is, for research to be considered humanizing, does entry into that research space need to be? The author argues that to be humanizing, entry into research spaces is more than an initial threshold crossing, but a continuous task of nurturing relationships throughout and beyond the project.

Author

• Scott D. Farver, Michigan State University