Method as Presence: Urgency, Belonging, and Relational Praxis in Qualitative Research

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 3:45 pm - Gold 4

Session Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

This roundtable features scholars advancing qualitative approaches grounded in urgency, care, and community. Papers include a conceptual framework for metodologias da urgência—methods forged in survival and refusal; a participatory study exploring spatial belonging among migrants; and an analysis of Sista Circle Methodology that defines its core elements of healing, love, and counterspace. Together, these works challenge dominant narratives and praxis, normative validity, and disembodied research traditions. They offer alternative visions of method as presence: grounded in accountability, shaped by community, and responsive to lived conditions. This session foregrounds methodological commitments that center voice, responsibility, and connection in research design and praxis.

Sub Unit

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

Papers

• Metodologias da Urgência: Reclaiming Time, Voice, and Responsibility in Research - Bruna Damiana Heinsfeld, University of Minnesota

• Shared Sidewalks and Plates: Belonging in Participatory Research - Amanda Man, University of Delaware; Keondra A Prier, University of Delaware; Soo Bin Jang, University of Delaware

• What Makes Sista Circle Methodology (SCM) Powerful - Allante Moon, University of Pennsylvania