Conflicted: An Autoethnography on Researching the Minority Swimming Gap

Abstract

In this research note, I use an autoethnographic method to undertake the task of uncomfortable reflexivity to address the intra-conflict of being a Black woman researching the minority swimming gap, who, like my research participants, struggles with hair maintenance to engage in swimming activities. My uncomfortable reflexivity moves from stages of confession, self-discovery, catharsis and a plan to incorporate deeper reflexivity in future research and other academic practices. Reflexivity in qualitative research is used as a methodological practice to give validation and legitimacy to a research study. Oftentimes, a qualitative researcher will do a bracketed interview to become aware of existing biases, fix problems with an interview schedule, or to temporarily feel what their subjects may experience during an interview. Sometimes reflexivity is merely done as a step in the research process, never progressing to the point of real interrogation of self, the body, and, ultimately, application. I have been guilty of going through the motions of comfortable reflexivity.

All Things Considered: A Collaborative Critical Autoethnography of Emerging Racialized Scholars

“…By acknowledging their own positionality, in terms of race, gender, class, occupation, education, and other aspects of identity, the researcher can begin to elucidate the framework through which the research can be completed and understood. Yet this “comfortable reflexivity” may be insufficient, “never progressing to the point of real interrogation of self, the body, and, ultimately, application” (Norwood, 2018, 4). Keeping this in mind, researchers require further critical reflection to move beyond what may feel comfortable and into a meaningful examination of themselves within the research process.…”

“…Given these realities, the extant literature positions reflexivity in qualitative research as fundamental to the endeavor of the responsible and ethical researcher (Brewster, 2020;Etherington, 2004;Finlay, 2002;Mason, 1996;Norwood, 2018). Reflexivity requires the researcher's urgent, continual, and subjective self-awareness during the research process.…”

Reifying Contemporary Versions of Liquified Racism: Black Representation in Competitive Swimming

“…According to the diversity report published by the NCAA (2020), only 1.8% of collegiate swimming men and 0.9% of collegiate swimming women identify as Black; highlighting the lack of Black existence and representation in collegiate competitive swimming. Norwood (2018) called attention to this issue of the “minority swimming gap,” stating that Black individuals have had and continue to have more physical and emotional struggles with water than that of White people (p. 1). To capture this issue, we have coined the term liquified racism as a concept utilized to represent past (e.g., water being used by White individuals to punish Black protestors; D.…”