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Articles

Vol. 5 No. 1 (2016): Intersectionalities

Racialized Discourses: Writing Against an Essentialized Story About Racism

DOI
https://doi.org/10.48336/IJYYMB7927
Submitted
May 6, 2014
Published
2016-02-02

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the ethics of knowledge production when conducting research on racial injustice. The discussion draws upon my doctoral research, in which I interviewed 23 racialized social workers in Toronto, Canada, about their encounters with racism in the workplace. The discussion centres on my role as a racialized researcher and the effects of any assumed “insider-ness” on how I heard and interpreted participant narratives. Although the workers and I shared experiences of racism, I could not assume “sameness,” nor could I adopt an authentic voice about how racism is experienced. This paper examines the significance of producing research about racial domination, but argues for an anti-essentialist stance. I explore the ethical dilemmas involved through examining the dominant assumptions underlying insider research.