Radical imagination and “otherwise possibilities” in qualitative research

Abstract

This humanscript is an attempt to extend the limits of our qualitative research, theorizing and praxis alongside youth engaged in social justice projects. Research must bend, shift, and transform to the needs and will of communities–especially youth–whose voices in research are often maligned or misrepresented, if heard at all. Imagination and creativity are pathways to “otherwise” possibilities or alternative approaches to qualitative research theories, methodologies, and methods. This article offers three vignettes drawn from research projects with youth of color wherein three key commitments emerge: Double Dutch methodology, desire-based frameworks and projects in humanization, storying and listening. These are commitments to doing qualitative research with youth in more humanizing and creative ways.

Keywords:

• Humanizing research
• qualitative studies
• ethnography
• imagination
• otherwise

Notes

Acknowledgements

My deepest gratitude to the young people I learn from everyday. Many thanks as well to the reviewers and editors of this special issue for generous feedback on earlier versions of the piece. I am also grateful for the support of my mentors and colleagues, especially Sonia Nieto, Natasha Gordon-Chipembere, Jason Irizarry, and Kysa Nygreen who provided insightful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Freedom dreaming is a nod to scholar Robin D. G. Kelley’s Freedom Dreams (2002) book about the Black radical imagination. In it he writes about the power of imagination, art, and alternative visions as a part of activism and social movements to transform the world. Engaging in more humanizing research practices requires a kind of dreaming and visioning something that may not yet exist.

2 Education scholar David Hernandez-Saca uses the term humanscript in place of manuscript as a post-structuralist and more inclusive academic reference.

3 All names of places and people are pseudonyms.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Keisha L. Green

Keisha L. Green is assistant professor of English education at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Her scholarly interests are English Education, youth literacy practices, critical literacy and critical pedagogy. Her work appears in the journals Equity & Excellence in Education, Race, Ethnicity, and Education, and Educational Forum. She has authored chapters in edited volumes including Humanizing Research: Decolonizing Qualitative Inquiry with Youth and Communities, and Youth Voices, Public Spaces, and Civic Engagement.