Conducting community-engaged qualitative research in South Africa: memoirs of intersectional identities abroad

Abstract

The influence of intersectional identities on social experiences is most often explored within research on minority populations (e.g. LGBT, African American women, etc.). However few, if any, studies have extended the subject of intersectionality to address the intersectional identities of researchers or their influence on the conduct of qualitative research in international settings. Through reflexive memoirs offered from student researchers that engaged in an international collaborative research project, this article highlights the challenges intersectional identities posed while conducting community-engaged qualitative research in Durban, South Africa. Within each memoir, particular attention is paid to (a) how the intersection of the student researchers' perceived and actual racial, gendered, class, and national identities determined or obfuscated their statuses as 'outsiders' or 'insiders', (b) the influential nature of these mutually constitutive identities on the interview process, and (c) how the student researchers successfully or unsuccessfully negotiated the collective impact of their intersecting positions and identities in the field. By critically examining the complex and interdependent influence of race, ethnicity, gender,

Considerations for Implementing Group‐Level Prenatal Health Interventions in Low‐Resource Communities: Lessons Learned From Haiti

“…Cultural outsiders would be remiss to assume that their racial, ethnic, and/or national identities are ignored or unnoticed by participants. Indeed, it is identity and its perceived associations that can become facilitators or detractors of interpersonal interactions …”

An account from the inside: Examining the emotional impact of qualitative research through the lens of “insider” research.

“…Issues of power in the research relationship have been written about extensively in relation to insider research (Merriam et al, 2001), feminist research (Stacey, 1988), and participatory action research (e.g., Fine, 1994; Greene, 2013). Although hypothetically insider status contributes to a levelling of power differentials as a result of shared identity (often one associated with marginalization), an intersectional lens calls us to consider the multiplicity of identifications and experiences we as researchers bring to this relationship—including those associated with academic institutional power (Maxwell, Abrams, Zungu, & Mosavel, 2016). We must attend to the power inherent in our role as the producers of knowledge; as those tasked to interpret and in so doing, re-tell the stories and experiences of our participants (Stacey, 1988; Tilley, 1998; Karnieli-Miller, Strier, & Pessach, 2009).…”

Feeling ‘like a minority . . . a pathology’: interpreting race from research with African and Caribbean women on violence and abuse

“…However, during that period, I began to question my skills, to teach/lecture, to present my work, to parent… I questioned my ability to present women's accounts, as I was now convinced that my interpretations would be deemed as inauthentic, less credible, ironically the very terms often used to discredit Black female rape victims (Kennedy, 1992). Therefore, I experienced shifts in my insider/outsider/ in-between identities (Merriam et al, 2001;Maxwell et al, 2015).…”

“…Maxwell et al (2015) articulate an 'in-between' space that opens up or closes down communication between researchers and participants dependent on aspects that are shared such as gender or race, and those that are not; socioeconomic status. The insider/outsider dichotomy smooths over the more complex and intersectional 'in-between' identities that are navigated in interviews and interpretative work; some enable more data and some close off avenues for deeper conversations (Maxwell et al 2015). During the interviews my insider identity enabled in-depth discussions about violence and abuse, race and how women had felt silenced.…”

“…These feelings I later identified as multiple shifts in my insider/outsider and 'in-between' identities (Merriam et al, 2013;Maxwell et al, 2015), a transfer and sharing of racialised feelings between myself and participants during interviews, that were carried into transcription and analytic work.…”