Decolonizing researcher authenticity

Abstract

This article examines the ways in which researcher authenticity is negotiated along three axes of difference, ethno‐linguistic affiliation, sexual orientation and race/skin color. Ultimately, it analyzes how researcher authenticity is produced and played out within research, via interactions between participants, researchers and others who influence the research project, especially when researchers and research are transnational. Yoshino's Covering, a new addition to critical legal studies, provides a theoretical framework for analysis. Namely, what society comes to imagine as ‘normal’ and ‘mainstream’ are myths that limit us by forcing us to play‐up favored traits and downplay disfavored ones. In order to be considered authentic, researchers often are pressed into playing roles – fitting norms – produced by narratives that limit and give way to how the researcher can be imagined. The analysis suggests that researcher authenticity, however, is not completely fixed, but discursively shaped during research. The ambivalence inherent in inscribing imaginary subjects that are inadequate and unattainable unfixes the subject and provides a gap where the possibility for producing new narratives exists. This work has implications for the narrow view of science that quickly is becoming the norm in this era of research.

Keywords:

• authenticity
• Colombia
• ethnicity
• linguistics
• race
• research
• sexual orientation

Notes

1. Covering comes from critical legal studies, like critical race theory and intersectionality that also are used in education (Tate 1997).

2. ‘Yanqui’ is slang for a person from/in the US; it often carries negative connotations.

3. I interpret them as playing along but there may be other interpretations (Daza 2006b).

4. To capture the distortions and complexity of terminology, not to mention the biological, cultural, and historical manifestations/definitions of sexualities or the relationship to other categorical markers such as gender and ethnicity, would require more space than available (see Anzuldúa 1999; Sedgwick 1990; De Lauretis 1991; Cruz and Manalansan 2002; Kumashiro 2002; Yoshino 2002; Eng, Halberstam and Muñoz 2005).

5. Research on sexuality in Colombia is limited; norms vary by region; and norms/practices have changed over time (see González 1997–2001).

6. 135,000–170,000 Africans entered ports in Colombia from 1580–1640 (Arocha 1991). Emancipation began in 1821; slavery was legally abolished on 1 January 1952; but slave owners were slow to abide by the law (Lohse 2001).

7. ‘Don't ask, don't tell’ refers to US policy on gays in the military.