I Ain’t Sorry: Protecting Identities of Research Co-Creators Through Character Innovation

• In Event: “America Has a Problem”: Sista Scholars’ Rebellion as Resilience

Abstract

“The most disrespected woman in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman…”
~Malcolm X
Objectives
After enduring continuous lacerations from the system of schooling in a variety of forms, three Black women discovered a core group of friends/sistas that would propel us forward in our research and in our lives. As unprotected beings, it is necessary to protect each other, especially in oppressive spaces like academia where survival is essential and affirming colleagues come a dime a dozen. The purpose of this research as a segment of this panel is to extract parallels in protecting my sistas and protecting co-creators of research. The variety of ways we protect each other are foundational to co-creator communication, safety, and relationship-building strategies.

Methodology
By means of a critical ethnographic case study, I generated characters for race and equity research that would place the protection of the co-creators of the research as a priority. I purposefully sampled based on relationships built prior to and during the time of the study, and on the co-creators’ willingness to speak uncandidly and anonymously with me about their experiences during this race and equity research. I also had to consider how anonymity could go deeper than pseudonyms. I continued observations and dialogue for all 21 faculty and staff at the school who agreed to participate in the study, but ultimately chose 4 as my co-creators and developed them as ‘bearing intimate patterns of character’ (BIPOC) individuals who took on alien characteristics like colors, and patterns, and whose names and were anagrammatic versions of the words created from words they used often during the research process (i.e. Etare Bil- Liberate, Rew Sna- Answer, Alum Rof- Formula, and Laer Teg- Get Real). The process of nicknaming based on common words, phrases and/or actions is often practiced in our sista circle as well and made the research feel authentic. Other school members were considered to be ‘persons without intricacies’ (PWI) and were kept completely in the dark from the four co-creators’ identities to avoid further isolation, silencing, and potential backlash from school leadership teams.
Data Sources, Findings, and Scholarly Significance
Data sources included across the table dialogue, photo elicitation, observations, field notes, journaling, surveying, and memos. The thematic patterns that were found included: 1) Evaluating the (in)visibility of self in the curriculum and community, 2) Establishing community as proactive restoration, and 3) understanding the function of white supremacy in the education community. Scholarly significance of these findings parallels with conversations that came up in our sista circle and continuously reveal themselves as patterns that need to be addressed in the overall education system if we are to imagine beyond the nation’s current oppressive system.

Author

• D'Annette Mullen, University of Florida