Resonance, Intersectionality, and Reflexivity in Critical Pedagogy (and Research Methodology)

Abstract

Believing that possibilities for living are shaped by the understandings we articulate, and that witnessing others generate such articulations can be generative of our own, I believe that social work education and research should collect and disseminate first-person accounts of navigating power. I theorize this and describe research in which I interviewed three social workers—who identify as a racialized woman, a Serbian who lived through the Milosevic regime, and a single mother—about their understandings of power in professional helping and how these understandings relate to their life histories. Each participant witnessed and responded to each other participant's account, following Michael White's outsider-witness practice, so as to cultivate a sense of connectedness amongst participants and also to generate further resonant responses. I then describe sharing the research narratives with students in order to introduce social work's involvement in oppression, also inviting students to respond to the research participants’ accounts. In doing so, students share with each other their own stories, analyses, and concerns, creating a contextual community of shared orientation that is held together by details and particularity. I extensively cite the research narratives so that other educators may use this article for the same purpose.