With the questioning of the neutral objective researcher, reflexivity has jumped to the forefront of qualitative research, thus positioning the embodied researcher within the research process. In its power to reveal tacit embodied social structures, reflexivity is touted as the hallmark of methodological validation while also being described as a messy process, particularly in participatory research. In this article, we use illustrative examples from our participatory research exploring the healing practices of racialized minority youth in Canada to highlight the limits of reflexivity and participation. We examine the messy processes in the preliminary phase of our research project and the invaluable insights we took into developing a creative methodology.
This paper presents a qualitative participatory study of Canadian young people who identified themselves as visible minorities and who have experienced discrimination based on their skin colour or ethnicity. Eighteen participants aged 15-24 (12 girls and 6 boys), representing four ethnic minority groups, participated in focus groups and indepth interviews and shared their responses to racial discrimination against them. Analysis of the data from the four discussion groups reveals that racism occurs in everyday situations and places, a lot of times manifesting itself as subtle forms of discrimination. Our findings also suggest that most of the participants tend to employ non-confrontational approaches when dealing with racial violence against them, and provide us with the rationale behind their intentions. Further, youth are not uniformly impacted by racialized events, and therefore the coping strategies they use vary based on individual and contextual factors. Three common strategies for healing can be derived from the participants' narratives: expressive-emotional, spiritual-forgiving and communicative-relational. We discuss our findings in the light of theoretical frameworks of resilience and coping approaches and argue that young people's subjective appraisals of racialized events as well as contextual factors need to be addressed in any discussion on coping and resilience within minority youth populations.
This article explores the paradoxical processes in how young Oromo refugee women negotiate identity and cohesion in a globalized space. It argues that these women's experiences reveal the interplay of local and global forces of identity and cohesion. The myth that contemporary migration has diversified and expanded the pool from which people choose intimate partners is challenged, and the multiple boundaries of gender, race, class, sexuality, ethnicity, and nationality interweaving in this pool of choice are critically analyzed. Implications for feminist social work practice are discussed.It has been several decades since feminists challenged the publicprivate dualism and established the notion that the personal is political. More recently, some feminists have turned this idea around, stating that the political is also personal. Along with the wider debates, feminist social work practice has been riddled with tensions between micro and macro, person and structure, identity and cohesion. Although social workers strive to
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