Harried by Harding and Haraway: student–mentor collaboration in disability studies

Abstract

Exploring the friendships of disabled youth in forthcoming doctoral research raised many unsettling questions. Members of academic and disability communities thoughtfully asked how the researcher could legitimately understand, interpret and represent the experiences of disabled youth. The initial impulse was to rely on nearly two decades of clinical practice with children and youth with disabilities; however, the futility of this strategy quickly surfaced. Uncertainty about how to proceed arose. A colleague and mentor suggested that a careful reading of Sandra Harding, Donna Haraway and Mats Alvesson and Kaj Sköldberg might provide the conceptual tools required to address these concerns. This paper presents a student’s stumbling, hesitant and sometimes ‘harried’ attempts to grapple with their unfamiliar arguments while simultaneously exploring tentative connections with disability studies. The evolutionary cycle of queries, responses and reflections from a series of e‐mails demonstrate a transition in thinking about research and representation.

Keywords:

• qualitative research
• conceptual framework
• disabled youth
• strong objectivity
• situated knowledges
• reflexive interpretation

Notes

1. To make the text more accessible to readers, when Harding (1991, 1993), Haraway (1988, 1997) and Alvesson and Sköldberg (2000) are cited the dates will not be included unless the text is quoted directly.