Bad-Alys and the Bad-Folx: Edge-Dwelling, Hope and How to Get Your Voice Heard

Abstract

I attended a symposium on “Bad Girls” at the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (ICQI) 2018, looking for inspiration on how to make sense of myself and academia. When I asked, “How can I be a Bad Girl now?” I was told to go and get a job and get published. This autoethnographic piece shares stories of Bad-Alys, an Early Career Researcher trying to get published and finding her place as an academic. This paper was written to inspire the potentiality of change by exploring the concept of multiple selves from Etherington and Speedy, moving away from a binary to position Bad-Folx alongside Barad’s concept of entanglement; as activists and edge-dwellers within qualitative research. This is a paper of hope, offering ways to move-with the current-accepted paradigm of the academy by taking control of your doings as Ahmed would argue, through vignettes of collaborative inquiry, re-envisioning the use of conference spaces and self-publishing.

"I Have a Bag of Old Knickers. Do You?"

“…With iterative reflection, I realise that, instead of seeing this piece as a more traditional vox populi, I take great learning from Bhattacharya's (2007) scholarship on feminism and postcolonialism in relation to whose voice is heard in qualitative research, as well as building on my own work on how to have your voice heard in the academy (Mendus, 2021). Bhattacharya argued that often participants' voices are "partially or completely silenced" (2007, p. 83); therefore, using the actual voices of the participants in the final artistic product of this research was essential and a key element from which I hope to inspire others.…”

“…By sharing these audio found poems, I am hoping to inspire a newness in what/how voices can work in the world. I wonder, since most folx (see Mendus, 2021) in the world wear underwear, where else this project could go. I have dreams of funding and workshops, making and talking about underwear.…”

What is Feminism in Troubling Times? To Stay Standing Together

“…A: There is the unspoken element of the conference (Mendus, 2021, In press). The costumes and the dance around the buildings, grounds, bars and cafes.…”