Building Kinship and Becoming Relatives: Ancestral Alignment Guiding Our Methodologies

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Research practices of the modern-day academy have been foundational roots of settler colonialism, Christianity, and capitalism (Wilder, 2013; Dunbar-Ortiz, 2014). These colonial roots are reflected in extractive and harmful research practices that are framed as neutral and objective (Smith, 1999). In this symposia, presenters reject Western and Eurocentric notions of rigor of “scientific research” and instead co-construct qualitative research methodologies in ancestral alignment design. Ancestral alignment is an intimate experience that enhances research rigor in its rooted commitments to building kinship, community, and transforms scholarship in its process. Attendees are invited to join the four presenters that will share cultural-based and community-informed methodologies, which include dance, storytelling, poetry, and liming, offering a glimpse into the liberating possibilities of research.

Sub Unit

• Division D - Measurement and Research Methodologies / Division D - Section 3: Qualitative Research Methods

Chair

• Stephanie L. Simpson, University of Connecticut

Papers

• Co-Constructing Central American Knowledge: A Research in Accompaniment Methodological Approach - Eileen M. Galvez, Colorado State University

• Building a Home with Poetry and Stories - Charlie Amáyá Scott, University of Denver

• Jangueo: Survivance of US Latine Scholars in Higher Education Disrupting Hegemonic Scholarly Use of Latinidad - Luz Nereida Burgos-Lopez, University of Connecticut

• Conceptualizing a Decolonial Embodied Methodology Grounded in Ubuntu Philosophy - Truth Hunter, University of Connecticut

Discussant

• Sergio A. Gonzalez, University of Pittsburgh