Border crossing subjectivities and research: through the prism of feminists of color

Critical feminist reflexivity and the politics of whiteness in the ‘field’

“…Though by no means new (Du Bois 1920;Fanon 1967), whiteness has been critically explored in geography (Bonnett 2000;Pulido 2000;Bonnett and Nayak 2003;Peake 2009). However, feminist scholarly attention to whiteness and research (Delaney 2002;Sundberg 2005;Abbott 2006;Coloma 2008) largely sits at the margins, quietly demonstrating the historical privileging of (an unmarked) whiteness in geographical knowledge production (Pulido 2002;Liu 2006;Mahtani 2006). Given this disciplinary past and present, critiquing whiteness as part of an interrogation of power valuably complicates and extends feminist methodological reflection.…”

“…Both the sources of our privilege and the narratives of guilt that emerge from it merit explicit interrogation, particularly given that we, as academics, chose these careers and, in particular, to work in these places. A growing body of exciting work from 'bordercrossing' global north/south researchers exemplifies this kind of interrogation, tracing the variations in agency among those living, working, and researching in the global south (Raju 2002;Chacko 2004;Sultana 2007;Coloma 2008;Chattopadhyay 2013). This not only enables more robust understandings of sociocultural, economic, and political shifts at work, but also complicates and disrupts our understanding of power in the field.…”

Promiscuous (use of) feminist methodologies: the dirty theory and messy practice of educational research beyond gender

“…Britzman, 1998;Butler, 2004Butler, , 2011, US feminists of color (e.g. Hill Collins, 1991Collins, /2008Villenas, 1996), indigenous feminists (Smith, 1999(Smith, /2012, postcolonial feminists (Coloma, 2008(Coloma, , 2012Lorde, 1984Lorde, /2007Spivak, 1999Spivak, , 2008Spivak, , 2012, and queers of color (Anzaldúa, 1987(Anzaldúa, /1999 have worked against white, heterosexual, Euro-US-centric versions of feminist methodology and male-dominated critical race theory. Feminist philosophers and methodologists have consistently argued against a "distinctive method" (Harding, 1987) of feminist research to resist the possibility of exclusion inherent in fixing criteria.…”

Race moves: following global manifestations of new racisms in intimate space

“…Feminist scholars continue to call for an analysis of human relations in intimate space or the domos, a space harbouring insidious acts of violence. Intimate, intrapersonal relations of living, care-giving and service can no longer be disregarded in favour of research carried out for the public good when both the public and the good often qualifies the well-being of power-holders or the elite (Boler 2008;Coloma 2008;Kempadoo and Doezema 1998;Kenway 2011;Rhee 2008;Stromquist and Monkman 2000;Sassen 2001;Spivak 1999;Subreenduth 2008). Now more than ever it seems incumbent on educational scholars to move their inquiries to diverse and less formal sources of self-other knowledge, analysis and experience, to our students' lives, to communities on the ground and to complex depictions of life represented by literary writers and artists.…”