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

Abstract

The literature is rife with problematizations of researcher positionality ( Lin, 2015 ; Milner IV, 2007 ; Sheldon, 2017 ). The discussion of positionality ranges from researchers not acknowledging their own and others’ positionality ( Lin, 2015 ; Milner IV, 2007 ), being aware of the position of research studies one reads ( Lin, 2015 ), or not continually deconstructing one’s own identity throughout the course of the research they conduct ( Sheldon, 2017 ). We confront the issue through the lens of a collaborative critical autoethnography between burgeoning researchers. As racialized cis-women in the academy, we examine our experiences through the interstices of belonging – nominally excluded from belonging in both the academy and the community. Through this work, we confront the question of how we, as racialized cis-women in the academy, confront and navigate the complex dynamics of race, class, and gender when approaching research in our own communities. Our experiences are framed within critical race theory, which assists in demonstrating the ways in which the racialized and gendered dynamics of marginalization in an seemingly inclusive academy are contrasted with the racialized and gendered dynamics of inclusion in ostensibly exclusionary communities. This work extends our knowledge of how individual researchers begin to make sense of it all. Moreover, through this work, our hope for this paper is for those in academia to see themselves, or their colleagues, but also to serve as validation for those yet to come who share these tensions.