Being a Qualitative Research Methodologist From the African Diaspora During the Political Thunderstorms

• In Event: Boots on the Ever-Shifting Ground: Engaging Critical Methodologies in Precarious Times

Abstract

Objectives
In this paper I critically examine the nature of the pluralistic setting in which as a qualitative research methodologist I find myself, and how I navigate the storm as a Black woman of the Diaspora. I share how my attempts at dealing with ‘epistemological nihilation’ (King, 2017), an outcome of years of ‘curriculum violence’ (Ighodaro & Wiggan, 2011), informed my teaching/learning/writing/mentoring process. I ask: (1) What are the structures of power affecting my teaching, learning, and doing of research that uses qualitative research methodologies? (2) How as a qualitative research methodologist do I push back against the structures of power that exist? (3) What are the implications for the teaching, learning, and doing of ethically grounded qualitative research?

Perspectives
I believe, “Instructors of qualitative inquiry play an important role in framing methodological dialogues and cultivating research practices that advance the social justice aims of educational research” (Carducci et al., 2013, p. 3). The principles of: Connected Learning Theory (Ito, Gutierrez et al., 2013), conceptual decolonization (Wiredu, 1995), Ubuntu (Murove, 2012), the developmental university (Fredua-Kwarteng, 2017), Ricoeur’s (2004) réflexion faite, and the West African concept of Sankofa frame me as I frame the paper.

Modes of Inquiry
I use autoethnography, narrative, and writing as a method of inquiry, to go back and fetch what I forgot (Sankofa); and to interpret the events and experiences I had as a scholar interested in issues related to being a qualitative research methodologist in these politically uncertain times.

Data Sources
I use memory data, archival documents, and my experiences of the past 30 years as a learner/teacher/writer/mentor in qualitative research methodologies to process this paper.

Substantiated Conclusions
Although I might not always use some of the theories, books and or concepts that the politicians are banning and revolting against, it is important to recognize how the present situation directly affects and impacts the qualitative research community to which I belong (Parker & Lynn, 2002; Rashawn & Gibbons, 2023;). I have a responsibility as someone who aspires to be a “Morally Engaged Researcher in Solidarity with the People” (King, 2017, p. 212) and one who values ‘academic freedom’ (Kafka, 2022), to stand up, speak up, and speak out against the injustices to professors who are considered ‘the enemy’ (Reichman, 2021). I could hear my Trinidadian ancestors warning me as I reflected on the situation: “When your neighbor’s house on fire, wet yours”! Today for me tomorrow for you”!

Scholarly Significance
Yes, “Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose” (Author, 2010); but I move forward with hope and resistance (Conchas & Acevedo, 2020; Reddick, 2023). Thus, as we continue to work within a politically charged higher education setting and with methodological quandaries that abound, I believe we need to ask: “Quo vadis? What else needs to be, can be, should be done if our academic freedom, if it exists at all, is to survive”? Meanwhile, Niemöller’s words resonate: “Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Author

• Janice B. Fournillier, Georgia State University