The Use of Pláticas to Navigate Ethical Dilemmas in Ethnographic Research With Latina Students

• In Event: Caring and Being There: Toward a Framework for Care-Based Research With Youth in Schools

Abstract

Purpose
Ethnography has been a commonly used method to examine school pushout for Students of Color (Rios, 2011; J. Flores, 2016). Ethnography, however, falls short in that young people are positioned as subjects of research with the researcher merely observing to theorize the experiences of “research subjects.” For this reason, I offer pláticas, a method and methodology that offers the tools for researchers to navigate the ethical dilemmas that come when working with young Latinas with care and attention to their already marginalized lives.

Perspectives/Theoretical Framework
Chicana/Latina feminist theory proved pivotal in working with young Latinas. As Alma Flores (2016) states, “Chicana/Latina feminist theory centers its analyses on the experiences of Chicanas/Latinas in the U.S. through a critical, social, economic, political, and cultural perspective” (p. 16). It recognizes the lived experiences of Chicanas/Latinas as legitimate and uses epistemologies to question notions of objectivity, knowledge production, and Eurocentric research practices.

Methods
Pláticas (Fierros & Delgado Bernal, 2016; Valle & Mendoza, 1978) as a decolonial research method and methodological tool disrupts ethnography and the process of interviewing. It offers strategies to navigate ethical dilemmas that come from engaging in research that examines the educational and social experiences of Latinas. Fierros and Delgado Bernal (2016) provide us with five elements of pláticas, they are: 1) draw upon Chicana/Latina feminist theory and other critical theories, 2) honor participants as co-constructors of knowledge, 3) interlock the everyday lived experiences and research inquiry, 4) provide a potential space for healing, and 5) rely on reciprocal relationships, vulnerability, and researcher reflexivity.

Data Sources
Using the five elements of pláticas to guide my decision-making processes as a researcher and compañera, I describe how I navigated my decision of driving Valentina home after being physically attacked on her way home from school. Empirical evidence used for this case study derives from an 18-month ethnographic study that focused on the educational and social experiences of twelve Latina high school students in relation to school pushout. I use pláticas I had with Valentina as well as my own self-reflexive journals to make sense of the decision I made while working with Valentina.

Results
As a compañera and researcher for Valentina, pláticas as a methodology gave me the tools to work through the ethical dilemma of driving Valentina home. Pláticas honored Valentina as a co-constructor of knowledge. This allowed us to work through the tensions I had with driving her home, and at the same time, provided a space for healing from the traumatic event she experienced. Self-reflexive journals I wrote after our interactions were especially important for researcher reflexivity, always considering the power dynamics between Valentina and me.

Scholarly Significance
This study reveals the ethical dilemmas that come with working with young people. It urges future work to consider the use of decolonizing methodologies, such as pláticas, and other humanizing research practices (Paris & Winn, 2014), that allow researchers to work with and care for young people when investigating their educational and life inequities.

Author

• Bianca N. Haro, Pitzer College