Abstract
Describing methodological design in decolonizing research as the intersection of theory, practice, and ethics, we share four focused micro-stories from our respective research projects. The metaphor of braiding represents the methodological design process within each of our research stories, significantly influenced by Dwayne Donald’s (2012) Indigenous métissage. Heather grapples with notions of reciprocity, Brooke considers the role of place in the construction of teacher identity, Marc engages with reworking photovoice, and Julia brings relationships with plants into her methodological design. Intentionally interrupting each other and ourselves, we feature the moments and movements of research design that are iterative, recursive, messy, and sometimes stuck, in contrast to the linear, untainted and dogmatic methodologies that assert themselves around us. Meanings and relationships may be produced in braiding our micro-stories together, exceeding what might be possible if they were presented separately. Readers may be invited into imagining the design of decolonizing methodologies beyond those we enacted.
Highlights
We understand methodological design in research as the intersection of theory, practice, and ethics
We are interested in keeping theory “close” in the process of methodological design—braiding instead of bifurcating theory from practice and ethics
In this paper Heather grapples with notions of reciprocity, Brooke considers the role of place in the construction of teacher identity, Marc engages with reworking photovoice, and Julia brings relationships with plants into her methodological design
Summary
We understand methodological design in research as the intersection of theory, practice, and ethics. The fireweed, like the flax I planted before it for the installation, extended posthumanist theoretical explorations into “becoming teachers together” with plants, and ongoing experimentation with the practices of more-than-human research methodologies (Whatmore, 2006) It reflected what I learned from Indigenous scholar Rauna Kuokkanen’s (2007) description of gift-giving practices that generate intricate relationships, “reciprocation with and responsibility toward all others” Informed by Cajete’s ecological connection of human learning, the prompts focused on: a) teachers’ perceptions of the parameters of place; b) stories of, and interaction with, living place; and c) tribal approaches to teaching and learning and the understandings, sources of (Indigenous) knowledge, and practices that emerge These walking interviews through significant places typically lasted one hour, and were documented through handheld recorders, photographs, and researcher fieldnotes. Instead of lamenting the shortcomings and slippages of language, in the glimpse at my braid below I invite readers to revel in the agency and entangled nature of place
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