The Contours of a Chicana/Latina Feminista Critical Ethnography: A Collective Enseñanza From Nepantleras

• In Event: Rupturing the White Gaze: Centering Chicana/Latina Feminista Methodologies and Epistemologies in Qualitative Research

Abstract

Objectives
Ethnography can be traced back to late 19th-century anthropologists, who used ethnography to “understand” the culture of people through participant observations (Merriam, 2009). As two Chicana/Latina nepantleras working with Latine students, we argue ethnography falls short because it has historically pathologized, objectified, and harmed Communities of Color. Thus we draw from critical ethnography while recognizing that critical ethnography does not honor our Chicana/Latina feminist sensibilities. For this reason, grounded in our Chicana Feminist Epistemology (CFE), rejecting colonial research practices, and recognizing Chicane/Latine people as creators and holders of knowledge (Delgado Bernal, 1998; Denzin, 2003; Flores-Carmona, 2014; Villenas, 1996), we offer collective guiding contours of what we name a Chicana/Latina Feminista Critical Ethnographic (CLFCE) methodology.

Theoretical Framework & Methods
Borrowing from the work of Chicana/Latina feminist scholars, we ground this paper using Chicana/Latina Feminist Theory (CLFT). CLFT center the experiences of Chicanas/Latinas and seek to challenge racism, sexism, and other systems of oppression (Delgado & Elenes, 2011). CLFT helps us analyze how Chicana/Latina feminist scholars have embodied and employed critical ethnographic research that disrupts Eurocentric research practices. Drawing on CLFT, we use a Chicana feminist epistemological framework (Delgado Bernal, 1998) to challenge traditional western notions of objectivity and utilize a CLFCE approach. To conceptualize a CLFCE, we drew from – 1) a 60-minute reflexive plática highlighting how our CFE shapes how we employ critical ethnography in our research, and 2) the scholarship from Chicana/Latina feminist critical ethnographers. We first analyzed our plática using initial coding for themes to emerge organically (Saldaña, 2009). We then applied pattern coding to identify emergent themes. After analyzing our plática, we looked at previous literature to consider similar themes. Emerging themes from our plática and previous literature include reflexivity, care, social justice, and reciprocity, to name a few.

Findings & Scholarly Significance
Through our plática and review of the scholarly contributions of Chicana/Latina critical ethnographers, we conceptualize six guiding contours of a CLFCE to include:
Draws from Chicana/Latina and Women of Color critical theories, epistemologies, and methodologies.
Is in continuous reflexivity of our power and positionality as researchers working with Chicane/Latine collaborators to engage in more humanizing research practices and stay accountable to our research collaborators.
Cares for the humanity of research collaborators by tending to their needs, capacity, and engagement with the “research.”
Engages in movidas with research collaborators to survive and navigate the systems of oppression within the rules of research and within our lives.
Comadreando to learn from and with research collaborators as co-creators of knowledge.
This work is a political act of love and thus social-justice driven.

While we list these contours separately, by no means do they occur in isolation. In fact, many of these contours work simultaneously together like a trenza. This paper urges scholars to consider methodologies that challenge research approaches that harm collaborators and further reinforce systems of power and domination. The authors hope readers take up a CLFCE as an enseñanza and apply it to their future work.

Authors

• Bianca N. Haro, California State Polytechnic University - Pomona

• Patricia Martin, University of California - Los Angeles