Breaking bread with storyworlding methodology: Black feminist/womanist commentary on unearthing communal lifeworlds

Abstract

This paper presents commentary for the Feminist Explorations of Storyworlding, Ethics, Love, and Validity special issue. Using a friendship as method approach, we engage in reflexive dialogue about storyworlding methodology and the articles in this issue. We consider the transformative possibilities of this methodology and the new lines of inquiry it can create within the critical qualitative inquiry community. Throughout, we center Black feminist and womanist sensibilities to explore how these perspectives can build on, extend, and complicate the methodological theorizing and practice of storyworlding.

Keywords:

• Black feminism
• critical qualitative inquiry
• womanism

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Following Kunz (2019), we use womxn to acknowledge intersectionality in gender, personal, and political identities related to notions of femininity and masculinity, and to subvert normative constraints on expressions of gender and sexuality.

2 We use Courier font to reflect spoken and recorded dialogue from our meeting on 21 July 2021. The rest of the manuscript is written word.

3 We redacted the group name to protect anonymity as part of a community agreement. Those who know, know. We also hold space for readers to contact us directly so we can share the name with other Black womxn academics who would like to join.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Francesca A. Williamson

Francesca A. Williamson, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Education Specialist at the Indiana University School of Medicine. She is an interdisciplinary scholar, and her research focuses on critical educational studies, socioecological (in)justice, and ethnomethodological inquiry. Her substantive work explores disciplinary practices and learning in STEM and medical settings.

Katrina M. Overby

Katrina M. Overby, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, NY. She is an activist scholar who researches: Black Twitter, Black women's engagement on social media, Black women's representations in sport media, and Black women's narratives in the academy.