“He put his a** in your faces:” disruption of voice and inclusion in an academic conference witnessed through collaborative ethnography and critical incident technique

Abstract

In this collaborative autoethnographic piece, we present voices through critical incident technique replaying the same event at an academic conference, all seeking to understand how and why the disruption of voice occurs and what to do to counter it. We contextualize these experiences in the ideal of “sustainability of qualitative inquiry” through a feminist reflexive process, problematizing the potential for critical qualitative inquiry. We question how ownership of power, knowledge, education and voice within academic spaces can be embodied by women and other underrepresented groups. In the end, we provide a set of three potential solutions for conference committees and individuals to critically self-reflect upon to create more social justice in qualitative research spaces. Such considerations are particularly important in times of social distancing, where considerations for inclusivity for all are imperative.