Crossing and Interrogating Borders: Reconciling Researcher Identity

• In Event: Authentic Community With Stakeholders: Innovative Research Through Culturally Responsive Methodologies Re-Presented Through Arts-Based Inquiry

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this autoethnographic video inquiry study was to define and develop my stance as a qualitative researcher. I identify as a White, cisgendered, hetrosexual woman who works as a higher education insider (Sherry, 2008). I planned to pursue a research agenda with higher education outsiders (Sherry, 2008). Specifically, I hoped to work with first-generation students, many of whom identify as Latinx women. Before I could begin, I felt compelled to interrogate my positionality and privilege.
Perspective: Sleeter (2017) encouraged White educators to locate their family histories within historical contexts, informed by critical race theory. I knew video inquiry could help me problematize an unexamined legacy. I began by investigating my relationship with my late father, a previous immigration official responsible for the U.S./Mexico border. Although I had known that my views on immigration differed from his, I felt restricted as a researcher by this legacy.
Emergent Framework: The framework that informed this study was culturally responsive methodologies (CRM) (Berryman, SooHoo, & Nevin, 2013). CRM requires the researcher to extend to participants what Maori call the seen face (Smith, 2012). This is the metaphorical act of showing one’s self. In order to be in community with future participants, I needed to acknowledge my historic positionality.
Methods, Modes of Inquiry: Throughout my career, I have used audiovisual tools to tell other people’s stories. In this study, I applied these tools to my own. Video inquiry is a term that describes this meaning-making through audiovisual production and re-presentation. In this study, it is a form of autoethnography (Adams, Jones, & Ellis, 2015; Boylorn & Orbe, 2014; Hughes & Pennington, 2017).
Data Collection, Materials: I collected data in the spring of 2017 by 1) conducting text-based research about my father and the specific immigration issues he was associated with during his career; 2) gathering family photographs and artifacts; 3) searching online and in library archives for newspaper and professional photographs featuring him or depicting immigration-related events; and 4) writing notes that would inform the narration. Chomsky (2016) wrote that citizens and consumers have relatively little influence on media content. This informed my decision to design this study using low-cost materials: PowerPoint and Adobe Premiere, which were accessible to me via a university-issued computer. Although the specific project I propose to re-present is approximately five-minutes in length, this assemblage of images, music, and narration, required several weeks to research, consider, write, and edit.
Results, Significance: In this autoethnographic video inquiry study, the primary “audience” was the maker. The result was intensified researcher reflexivity, (Bailey, 2007; Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Video inquiry provided a context for examining my relationship with my father, my privilege and my positionality. It also enabled me to grapple with the totality of my own intersectional identity. The results have been liberatory. I gained clarity and conviction about my stance and perspective as a researcher, which was my original objective. By sharing this re-presentation, the process of this study can be useful to other researchers with similar objectives.

Author

• Pamela Ezell, Riverdale Country School