Affirming Methodologies in Two African Diasporic Contexts: The Sharing of Knowledge Through Liming and Ole Talk Among Caribbean Islanders in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Practice of Sharing with Sydney-Based Africans

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article discusses the value of affirming methodologies through two studies of African diasporas that reveal how affirmation enhances autonomy, ownership, solidarity, and cultural assertiveness in the research process. Against the background of an indigenous epistemology, the first study presents insights into the cultural practice of liming and ole talk as a research methodology for researching and sharing knowledge with Caribbean Islanders living in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. The second study uses culturally informed practices of sharing to explore the resettlement experiences of women from different African backgrounds in Western Sydney, Australia. Together, the authors suggest that a culturally informed and practice-based approach foregrounds the social worlds of African diasporic communities and paints a more nuanced picture of their everyday lived experiences. The call for the decolonization of methodologies has drawn attention to the detrimental impact of mainstream research approaches on the representations of and responses to indigenous and Black people and people of color. This article asserts the importance of going beyond a decolonizing approach to an affirming position where researchers’ learnings are informed by more culturally relevant methodologies. These methodologies should be considered important in and of themselves and not simply in opposition to dominant modes of data collection, analysis, and dissemination.