Endarkened narrative inquiry: a methodological framework constructed through improvisations

Abstract

This paper traces the improvisational moves the authors had to make, as a Black woman graduate student and an Indian woman dissertation supervisor in a predominantly white space in academia, to cultivate a framework informed by Black feminist thought, womanism, endarkened feminist epistemology, and narrative inquiry in qualitative research. Conducting culturally situated inquiry in hostile spaces characterized by disproportionate power relations and multiple interconnected oppressive structures makes us vulnerable in the bodies in which we do this work. In this paper, we discuss the creation of an endarkened approach to narrative inquiry through methodological improvisation.