Storytelling in the Field: Race, Method, and the Empowerment of Latina College Students

Abstract

Scholars have raised questions about whether traditional methods are applicable or merely insufficient for studying racial and ethnic populations. There also remains a gap in addressing how race mediates the research process in qualitative research, particularly when researching Latina female college students. The author addresses how storytelling can serve as a means for researchers to create collective transformational spaces, coconstructing knowledge about self, further deepening our understandings about the role of race while in the field. There are three ways in which storytelling may serve to guide researchers when conducting research with students of color in particular. First, storytelling serves as a means to build deeper and more meaningful relationships with participants. Second, through storytelling, the researcher may disrupt racist messages that students of color often receive, particularly in predominantly White settings. Last, storytelling serves as a means for both researchers and participants to carve out spaces to share personal experiences about racism. When conducting research, scholars of color can draw on our particular racialized experiences, and through sharing our stories with marginalized students we can show empathy, allowing for participants to express themselves as racialized beings. Sharing these experiences not only help students cope with racism but also provides a space to affirm the lived experiences and knowledge of students of color. In this way, storytelling serves as a means of empowering students of color during the data-collection process.