Ourselves in Our Work

Critical Reflexivity in Qualitative Inquiry

Much of the scholarship centering Black girls is qualitative in nature. This fact alone speaks to the importance Black women scholars give to understanding lived experiences and the value they place on individual stories. Qualitative inquiry requires researchers to reflect on their positionality, the sociopolitical and historical ways our identities shape our experiences in society, as well as our biases to acknowledge how these aspects of ourselves may play a role in our interpretations during data collection and analysis (Creswell, 2014; Repko & Szostak, 2017). Reflexivity makes manifest the underlying worldviews and beliefs that a researcher might hold in order for the reader to better frame the research within the context of the researcher (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). In the case of this volume, Black women doing research with Black girls, examined the ways in which their past as a Black girl and their current state as a Black woman might play a role in the lenses used in their work. Yet, this process that is regarded as an essential aspect of ensuring the validity of qualitative research, can offer more than simply providing readers with information to determine if they should trust the study. Critical reflexivity allows readers to gain new and deeper insights into the lived experiences of the researcher, to understand them as a person with real world experiences rather than simply a data collection and analysis being. Reflexivity allows Black women scholars to arrive at more nuanced understandings about themselves, their work, the world in which we find ourselves and can lead to further avenues of exploration for future study.

In critical qualitative research, in particular, reflexivity is essential in that it acknowledges the power relations inherent in the researcher-participant relationship and causes researchers to not only reflect on how we might impact the research but also how the research may shape us. By having this time to reflect on our lived experiences, Black women have the opportunity to confront past actions and actors within our own lives, to question what they believe about Black girlhood. In Part II, which focuses specifically on learning and unlearning through research with Black girls, Janine Jones reveals what she learned about the ways Blackgirls challenge hegemonic rules and consequences which fail to consider their full personhood.

Probst and Berenson (2014) stated that “reflexivity is generally understood as an awareness of the influence the research has on what is being studied and, simultaneously, of how the research process affects the researcher. It is both a state of mind and a set of actions” (p. 814). Our work, however, expands the work of reflexivity to include not just the ways Black women’s positionalities shape their work but also how their work with Black girls impacts their lives. It might be thought of as reverse reflexivity.

This shared aspect of positionality, gender, and race serves as an asset in critical research around Black girlhood in that Black women researchers may be viewed as safer or more trustworthy in also having social identities that are marginalized and a shared identity of being Black and femme.¹ As Black girl participants may feel comfort in a researcher that shares identity markers with them, Black women researchers may also feel a kinship with participants. This connectedness may force us to ponder ways in which the experiences of our participants reflect our experiences as Black girls and even as Black women.

Research as a Mirror to the Self (Healing through Reflection)

According to Spencer (2006), the Phenomenological Variant of Ecology Systems Theory (PVEST) conceptualizes identity development as a cyclical process that occurs throughout a person’s lifespan, being influenced by both internal dispositions and external factors. As Black women conduct research involving Black girls, we do not simply collect data and mechanically analyze it. Instead, Black women researchers must observe phenomena, take notes or recordings, read and reread transcripts, analyze our data, and draft manuscripts detailing what we found. The research process forces researchers to spend a considerable amount of time with a topic, and these moments have the potential to serve as external factors that can shape internal dispositions about self.

The very act of conducting research, especially critical research, has the power to shape any researcher’s views of themselves and society at large. In conducting research in which many social identities are shared, the research, that is, the phenomena, the data, and the findings, though external factors, can serve as a mirror, reflecting the shared experiences of the researcher and the participants. In enacting the steps of our specific research methodologies, Black women researchers are given the opportunity to reflect on not only our data as we seek to answer research questions but also to reflect on our own lived experiences and how they are similar to or different from what we are currently observing, writing about, or analyzing.

Self-reflection is a tool for healing (Thorpe & Barsky, 2001). Therefore, as we researchers are forced to grapple with our lived experiences through the research process, we may also find that we allow ourselves to heal from past trauma and harmful actions and situations. Further, according to Thorpe and Barsky (2001), “through extensive self-reflection, women are able to make sense of their lives, and often make decisions that mark the beginning of new structures fostering meaning and commitment to those choices” (p. 761). Therefore while going through the research and subsequent reflection process, Black women researchers that conduct research with Black girls may progress through stages of our lives, moving into a more informed, intentional, and healthy state than before we embarked on the journey.

Shared Positionality

This book is significantly about positionality, defined as a researcher in relation to the social and political context of the study—the community, the organization, or the participant group (Coghlan & Brydon-Miller, 2014). In this case, contributors examine their identities in relationship to the Black girls they study, a task that is characterized by complexity and nuance. In their exploration of positionality, Caldera, Rizvi, Calderon-Berumen, and Lugo (2020) named research conducted by women of color with participants who share many aspects of their cultural identity as women of color intimate research. Research that intersects with the self, such as the scholarship done by Black women who study Black girls, deserves careful examination.

While Black girlhood and Black womanhood are two distinct stages, there are commonalities and shared struggles within both. The chapters in this book illustrate this continuum. For example, in Part I, Imani Minor states that as a woman in her early twenties, she does not yet feel like a full adult and therefore contemplates the boundaries around Black girlhood and womanhood as she reflects on how to position herself as she navigates higher education spaces and research. In reflecting on her research, she states, “as I continue to reflect on my work, I realize the unique lens that this between-ness offers me as I listen to Black girls while also honoring the profound ways that these young Black girls have affected my own growth process.” But the connection between the two stages is not limited to young adults. In fact, Dr. Loren S. Cahill & Noor Jones-Bey write about how the two stages are, in fact distinct but are also intertwined and interdependent with shared joy and resilience due to shared struggles and oppression. Black Feminist Theory (Hill Collins, 2000) and Critical Race Feminism (CRF) posit that the intersectionality of being both Black and a woman or girl comes with both racialized and gendered experiences (Wing, 2003). Essentially, Black femmes are oppressed under a system of racism and patriarchy concurrently. For example, Carter Andrews, Brown, Castro, and Id-Deen (2019) found that Black girls are often “adultified” and sexualized in schools, unfortunately pushing the distinct stages closer together and creating an unnecessary shared experience. Dagbovie-Mullins (2013) writes about the interconnectedness of sexual objectification in Black girlhood and womanhood.

Black girls are robbed of childhood due to being sexualized, while Black women are robbed of the agency typically afforded to adults by being reduced to sexual objects.

Further Black women and girls both experience discrimination based on appearance due to society’s negative views of phenotypical features common in Black women and girls (Caldwell, 2003). This combination of racial and gender discrimination impacts both Black women and girls. Black women have reported losing their jobs due to their natural hair being seen as unprofessional and Black girls have faced discrimination in schools due to their natural hair and cultural styles being seen as dress-code violations (Donahoo, 2021). Further, Black girls as young as preschool-aged have shown an awareness of the undesirability of their natural hair (Earick, 2010; Sturdivant, 2020) and skin color, using play as a vehicle to make themselves more desirable by white supremacist ideology standards (Sturdivant, 2020). From early childhood through adulthood, Black femmes must confront the idea that society’s Eurocentric-based beauty standards tend to render their traits undesirable and less feminine.

Apart from being discriminated against for natural appearance and being objectified and sexualized, Black women and girls are also often seen as hyper-aggressive and face the consequences of this stereotype rooted in Eurocentric notions of proper behavior. In schools, Black adolescent girls are likely to face punishments for acting what is deemed inappropriate. For example, Wun (2016) describes Black girls that were issued office referrals for showing agency at school by expressing their displeasure or disagreement with instructions that they found unfair. This idea that Black femmes should fall in line and not assert themselves is not limited to children. Black women are also characterized as being angry and aggressive, and this stereotype is enacted in private spaces as well as professional settings. Jones and Norwood (2017) detail experiences in which coworkers take steps to silence Black women as they speak up about real issues in their workplace. Both Black women and girls are put in positions in which they must determine if they want to challenge unfair systems and possibly face reprimand and negative labeling or continue to suffer in silence.

Black women and girls share an experience of being oppressed under a system of white supremacy as well as under patriarchy. The shared experience of being both Black and femme in our society leads to shared struggles. Some of these are identical such as discrimination based on hair texture, while others are similar yet more nuanced, such as the ways in which both groups are sexualized or how each is punished for her agency.

Scholarship as Activism (Social Justice Aims)

One of the ways that Black women have responded to this dually oppressed status, and sometimes more than dually oppressed when considering Queer, differently-abled, and other oppressed social identities that can be held by Black women, is through scholarship. By engaging in research that allows Black women and girls to tell their counterstories and center their everyday struggles, joys, and realities, Black women scholars push back against the status quo. Centering the voices of marginalized communities is an exercise in freedom as it creates a space in which Black girls’ lived experiences, thoughts, and actions can be presented without the threat of punishment due to not aligning with Eurocentric ontology and epistemology. Further, the shared struggles and social identities of Black women researchers and our Black girl participants equips Black women to ask questions and to design studies that serve to highlight social ills with the intent of eventually eradicating them. The work of Black girlhood studies is largely performed by Black women. Therefore, we thought it important to delve into why these women do this work. In Part III, several contributors described their work in ways that work toward the liberation of Black girls–and women. For example, Dr. Misha N. Inniss-Thompson explains her use of a cultural-asset perspective in her research as she strives to make manifest the voices of Black girls in a way that is often not done.

Quaye, Shaw, and Hill (2017) argue that “not engaging in activism is irresponsible and does not lead to social change” (p. 383). In fact, it is the shared struggles between Black women and Black girls that make scholar activism such a paramount exercise. Because Black women researchers tend to have experienced similar injustices and discrimination, we are uniquely equipped to produce the scholarship that best illuminates and critiques the systems and policies that created the inequities. According to Repko and Szostak (2017), critical research aims to take a political stance as it advocates for groups that are marginalized, such as Black girls. Black women scholars can use our experiences to help make changes in the lives of future Black women.

Looking to the Future

As we look into the future of this expanding field, we invite the reader to imagine the potential paths that Black girlhood studies could take. Janelle Grant invites the reader to reflect on methodology as we move forward with our work and to challenge long-held beliefs about research and how that serves or fails the work of Blackgirlhood studies. The work of Blackgirlhood studies is ongoing. The valuable insights that have been published and discussed as we have listened to Black girls have led to implications for ourselves as well as the world in which we find ourselves. These implications can lead to imagining a better future to consciously celebrating our past and present. Janelle Grant posits that the future of Blackgirlhood studies research must include subjectivity, creativity, hope (and joy), and inspiration.