“In a very important sense, we white researchers are unconsciously promulgating racism on an epistemological level. As we teach and promote epistemologies like positivism to postmodernism, we are, at least implicitly, teaching and promoting the social history of the dominant race at the exclusion of people of color, scholars of color, and the possibility of research based on other race/culture epistemologies” (Scheurich, p146)
As I have discussed above, research methodologies can be seen to harbour biases on an epistemological level, which have a profound impact on the balance of power and
representation in research. Existing assumptions in and around research are often rooted in western ideologies which contain specific cultural and ideological biases. As they are so
117 deeply rooted, a researcher who seeks to undertake empowering research with
participants may in fact deliver the opposite, as the methods exclude those people who are not articulate in the cultural vernacular (Scheurich, 1997, p1). As the research was
undertaken with young people from a variety of ethnicities it is especially important to be aware of such issues. The theories and practices that I have outlined above should go some way to tackling this in my research, especially the acknowledgment of complexity.
Acknowledging complexity is a highly relevant part of the key theoretical lens of
multiculturalism, which I have applied to this case study and explored in detail as a term in my literature review. The complexity that ‘multiculturalism’ brings is multi-layered, and includes the representation of those who have historically been ‘othered’ - as Lather (1991) notes, “[…] the formerly silenced have come to voice”(p33). These ‘alternative’ voices have helped to construct the postmodern epistemological discourse, and how we regard
knowledge around ‘race’ and ethnicity (Lather, 1991, p33).
Some of my main research questions examine the issue of diversity with the Young REP, and therefore the terms ethnicity and ‘race’ and the specifics about researching within these areas have to be considered carefully, as I discussed in my literature review. As cited in my theoretical consideration of race and ethnicity, Gunaratnam (2003) outlines that the general distinction between ‘race’ and ethnicity is the former is seen as biological and the latter cultural (Gunaratnam, 2003p4). These terms have been challenged and troubled as over simplistic, and she highlights the tension between contesting the terms and contesting social inequalities:
“At the level of epistemology there can be related tensions between the need to work with highly defined categories of ethnicity in order to undertake research that challenges social inequalities, and the recognition that such categories are socially
118 and historically contingent and situated […] these tensions are further intertwined with lived experiences of ‘race’ and ethnicity and with identity politics.”(Ibid, p18).
As I highlighted above, Gunaratnam references Mohanty’s dilemma that if you question the concept of race too much then it becomes hard to claim the experience of racism (Ibid, p6). The compromise for Gunaratnam is to draw on sociologist Avtar Brah’s work on
conceptualizing difference and to argue that “[…]while there must be temporary moments of closure in the defining of racial and ethnic categories in order to do research, these must also be opened up again in the process of doing research and in analysis” (Ibid, p38). A bricolage approach to this research is appropriate, because bricoleurs see the presence of different perspectives as a resource rather than a problem to be overcome (Kincheloe & Berry, 2004, p47).
Therefore, I do use the term ethnicity and refer to specific ethnic categories throughout my research in order to be able to explore diversity and multiculturalism, but I also work to trouble the boundaries of these classifications and to acknowledge the socially constructed and fluid nature of them. Bjorn (2009) notes that “minority groups may be seen as taking up liminal positions (willingly or not). To a degree, immigrant groups or refugees are liminal, being betwixt and between home and host, part of society, but sometimes never fully integrated” (p15). Thus liminality becomes a key theoretical component, specific examples of which I will discuss later.
As a white researcher I am also conscious of my own ethnicity and how this may affect my interactions with participants. Gunaratnam (2003) acknowledges that interracial research causes agitation emotionally and methodologically for researchers (p56). However, she troubles some of the assumptions that are made and specifically highlights that many of the traditional suppositions made about research subjects - such as the assumption that they are truthful and reliable- are turned on their head when subjects are racialized, when
119 they are then considered to be “[…] emotional, irrational, unco-operative and
deceptive”(Ibid, p73). Although she recognizes that there can be barriers between
interviewers and interview subjects, she does not see this as an impediment to inter-racial research and, as discussed above, she sees value in distrusting neatness and in valuing complexity, drawing on Bahktin who states that if the only way of researching was to erase your own position it would cease to be enhancing and become repetition (Gunaratnam, 2003, p104 and p143).
Law, Lather, Kincheloe and Berry embrace the ‘messy’ and complex parts of research and believe that this complexity, when grappled with, gives a fuller picture of what is being studied. ‘Grand Narratives’ are supplanted by an array of complex, nuanced, and multifarious stories which allow for a deeper and wider reading of a study (Murdoch quoted in Spanos, 1987:240 cited in Lather, 1991, p5-6). Kincheloe and Berry (2004) see research as subjective and state that it is “[…] inscribed at every level by human
beings”(p6). However, they encourage bricoleurs to use this subjectivity as part of the process of understanding their enquiry, and as such I acknowledge my own place within the research that I am undertaking.