Neither Queer Nor There: Becoming a Raging Lesbian Scholar

• In Event: 4154 - Qualitative Methodology

Abstract

For my dissertation, I conducted research with cisgender heterosexual men that enact catcalling and LGBTQ-directed aggression as well as with recipients of these interactions. In this paper, I I write about the way I had to navigate fieldwork when it comes to being the object of sexual objectification and homophobic aggression as well as being in the room when a lot of trauma is spilling forward from participants that marginalized folks. As a result of my research and because of it, I realized there are several different ways a queer researcher can queer their research and that affects HOW you go about sampling and interviewing as well as HOW you feel about being a part of the interactions under analysis. The title of my talk, which speaks to becoming a raging lesbian scholar, is meant to address how research reveals something about us as well as how research shapes us, especially when we do work around what we experience for ourselves. Finally, I want to speak against dismissing research as 'mesearch' when it is intimate and devastating and move the conversation away from the objective/subjective split when it comes to research and figure out a way that being 'in the know' makes us actually better researchers and that refocusing one's research on the most impacted populations is actually the right thing to do, instead of trying to 'represent' all sides and all populations involved.

Author

• Simone Alexandra Kolysh, City University of New York-The Graduate Center