Employing a Transnational Black Feminist Frame in Qualitative Inquiry: Lessons From the Intersections

• In Event: The Necessary Work: Research by and for Black Women and Girls

Abstract

In Black Feminism in Qualitative Inquiry, Evans-Winters (2019) notes that in qualitative research “[…] Black women’s ways of knowing, cultural and spiritual beliefs continue to be marginalized, suppressed, or bastardized and propagated as trite or esoteric at best” (p. 2). Therefore, she beckons qualitative researchers not only to counter this marginalization and suppression of Black women’s ways of knowing and beliefs, but also to create spaces to “play with” methodologies and intuitively draw on qualitative methodologies in ways that highlight the knowledge production of Black women. Following this important call to both “play with” methodologies and to use intuitive ways to draw on qualitative methods, this presentation highlights the methodological implications of a yearlong qualitative study of the educational experiences and identities of Black transnational women. The study specifically centered the educational narratives, identities, and linguistic/literate pursuits of seven Black transnational women from the Caribbean, East Africa, and Europe. Framed by a Transnational Black Feminist (Author 2019; Hall, 2016) and anticolonial (Dei & Kempf, 2006) approach, it sought to produce theory that could adequately contextualize the narratives of the participants and situate them in the fabric of their fraught sociopolitical and educational landscape. The findings revealed the many ways in which migration experiences required participants to reckon with and re-negotiate their racialized, national, and gendered identities as they navigated U.S. educational settings. They also showed how educational spaces, both formal and informal, can function as conduits for racial and xenophobic violence. However, most importantly, engaging in the research process revealed the need to re-examine qualitative research constructs, such reciprocity and trustworthiness (Harrison, McGibbon, & Morton, 2001), while working with communities and individuals that experience multiple forms of marginalization. Therefore, this paper will address the question: “How can we as qualitative researchers design projects that consider transnational and local contexts that frame the lived experiences of marginalized communities?”

Specifically, it explores the methodological implications that emerged from interviews with three Black women who were particularly vulnerable (i.e. due to lack of documentation, anti-Muslim rhetoric and/or anti-Black violence when the study was conducted). Despite longstanding relationships that existed between the researcher and the three Black women, the vulnerability due to immigration status impacted the research process, particularly with respect to the production of audio recordings and ethical considerations of representation. The scholarly significance of this work lies in mobilizing a Transnational Black Feminist approach to qualitative inquiry, which considers the multiple contexts and marginalized experiences of Black transnational communities.

Author

• Tanja Burkhard, Washington State University