Writing Through Tension: A Black Feminist Reflexive Praxis

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 11:45 am - Gold 4
  In Roundtable Session: Black Feminist Praxis: Freedom Dreaming, Writing, and Storying

Abstract

I introduce a Black feminist reflexive praxis that positions writing as an active epistemic accountability and ethical engagement method within qualitative education research. The analysis draws upon Black Feminist Epistemology (BFE) (Collins, 2022) and focuses on self-authored data from two qualitative studies examining doctoral program choice between the EdD and the PhD. This methodological approach identifies seven core reflexive actions: feeling, naming, witnessing, refusing, relating, disrupting, and reclaiming. Each action offers a concrete entry point for maintaining relational and ethical integrity in qualitative work. By treating writing as data and method, I demonstrate how researchers can use reflective journaling to navigate and address subjectivity. This praxis disrupts procedural reflexivity and repositions reflexivity as a rigorous, ethical, and historically informed scholarly practice.

Author

• Dana Michelle Harris, Independent Scholar