Affirming Methodologies in Two African Diasporic Contexts: The Sharing of Knowledge Through Liming and Ole Talk Among Caribbean Islanders in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Practice of Sharing with Sydney-Based Africans

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the value of affirming methodologies through two studies of African diasporas that reveal how affirmation enhances autonomy, ownership, solidarity, and cultural assertiveness in the research process. Against the background of an indigenous epistemology, the first study presents insights into the cultural practice of liming and ole talk as a research methodology for researching and sharing knowledge with Caribbean Islanders living in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. The second study uses culturally informed practices of sharing to explore the resettlement experiences of women from different African backgrounds in Western Sydney, Australia. Together, the authors suggest that a culturally informed and practice-based approach foregrounds the social worlds of African diasporic communities and paints a more nuanced picture of their everyday lived experiences. The call for the decolonization of methodologies has drawn attention to the detrimental impact of mainstream research approaches on the representations of and responses to indigenous and Black people and people of color. This article asserts the importance of going beyond a decolonizing approach to an affirming position where researchers’ learnings are informed by more culturally relevant methodologies. These methodologies should be considered important in and of themselves and not simply in opposition to dominant modes of data collection, analysis, and dissemination.

Notes

¹ The excerpts presented in Case study 1 are the researcher’s reflections on the interactions that took place in a lime among Caribbean Islanders living in Aotearoa New Zealand. The excerpts revealed how knowledge was shared through liming and ole talk.

² The authors use “I” when reflecting on their own separate research studies, that is, Aotearoa New Zealand and Sydney respectively.

³ Picong (Caribbean slang)—to tease or ridicule, usually in a humorous or light-hearted manner.

⁴ Fatigue (Trinidad slang)—similar to picong.

⁵ Backstab—to speak ill of someone in their absence.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Camille Nakhid

Camille Nakhid is a native of Trinidad and Tobago whose research lies both in the Caribbean and the Pacific. Her work includes a focus on culturally relevant methodologies. Camille has a BS in Chemistry from Brooklyn College, New York, and an EdD from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences and Public Policy at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. Her areas of research include indigenous, migrant, and refugee communities.

Claire Farrugia

Claire Farrugia is a researcher at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS), La Trobe University, Melbourne, where her current work sits at the intersection of cultural diversity and LGBTIQ+ health and well-being. Claire is a second-generation Australian of Maltese/Irish decent and has a BA (Hons–History) from Sydney University and a Ph.D. (Sociology) from Macquarie University, Australia. Her interests span the sociology of gender and sexuality, race and migration, and work, and she has a particular interest in informal/formal relationships of support in qualitative social research and community engagement.