Selves as Methods: Transnational Scholars’ Journey toward Pluriversality through Collaborative Autoethnography

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Selves as Methods: Reflexive Dialogue and Praxis in Global Knowledge Production

Proposal

Asian scholars, like other scholars from the Global South, have consistently confronted the colonial matrix of power (Mignolo, 2011) in knowledge production, most notably a form of ‘bifurcation’ that hierarchically separates theory/Global North from data/Global South (Chen, 2010; Connell, 2007) within global research and publication entreprises. We, as six transnational female Chinese scholars from five different institutions and three different continents, carried out collaborative autoethnography to unpack the asymmetric power relations and epistemic injustices that undergird our knowledge production and to identify strategies to strive toward pluriversality. Our group embodies a broad spectrum of scholarly, professional and personal experiences spanning the Global South and North, affording us with unique opportunities to achieve our aspirations.

Gathering in virtual circles regularly over six months, we examined our plural selves in relation to a spectrum of intellectual resources from traditional wisdoms – such as Confucian thought and circle methodologies – to decolonial theories. Inspired by Xiang and Wu (2023)’s proposal of ‘self as method,’ we developed the conceptual and methodological framework of ‘selves as methods’ through iterative dialogues and analysis. This framework conceptualizes selfhood as ontologically relational – in contrast to the conception of self as independent agents with free will prevalent in Western discourses. It also highlights the reflexive and transformative potential of relational selfhood.

Guided by this emergent framework, we identify key relationships that shape our identities and knowledge production, tease out the power structures embedded in these relationships, and investigate strategies to foster pluriversality in global social science research paradigms and methodologies. As transnational Chinese female scholars, we found ourselves deeply embedded in the colonial matrix of power that maintain the superiority of theory over practice and that of Western knowledge traditions over indigenous ones, as well as perpetuate patriarchal and neoliberal norms of productivity. We resisted and sought to transform these oppressive power structures through reflexive engagements in our ‘nearby’, making intentional choices in our writing, leaning into transformative relationships and building solidarities across political and cultural divides. We acknowledge the challenges faced by Global South researchers and believe our reflexivity and dialogues can help to address and alleviate these tensions and challenges.

The empirical findings and interpretations that emerged from our study are inevitably limited by our particular experiences and perspectives. Nonetheless, our transnational collaborative process illustrates the remarkable potential of collaborative autoethnography carried out through the ‘selves as method’ framework in fostering transformative relationships and communities that propel us toward decoloniality and pluriversality. More broadly, our experiences also highlight the importance of building epistemically equitable partnerships and alliances across geographical, political and cultural divides. By intentionally enacting equitable research partnerships in our transnational ‘nearby’, we are indeed resetting the ground rules in global knowledge production and moving towards a decolonial future where plural knowledges can coexist on equal footing.

Authors

• jingjing lou, Beloit College

• Jun Teng, 1.Beijing Normal University

• Ting Wang, University of Canberra

• Xin Xiang, Beijing Normal University

• Yun You, East China Normal University

• Min Yu, Wayne State University