Feminism

If you asked me last week if I'm a feminist, I would have said yes. And if you ask me today I will say yes as well, although it seems I may not adhere to the extreme conditions that some feminists demand. I do agree that women are an oppressed group, and as a female I can identify with these circumstances. But maybe I am too inclusive for feminism, because I don't believe it's the ONLY perspective I identify with and could work from. And I dislike the argument that males should be excluded from feminist research. (Unless we're afraid they'll get contaminate our clubhouse with cooties.)
One thing I've always struggled with in understanding the feminist perspective is the idea that "The personal is the political." Feminist counseling theory states this as well. My understanding of this statement is that women's struggles are political struggles, and they must be politicized in order to create change. Is this incorrect? Because I'm not so sure I feel that movements for change must go through public or political processes in order to evolve.

Multiple Annies

Questions for Dr. Jackson:

What experiences or values brought you to feminist poststructural theory? Do you work from any other perspectives, or have you ever?

What are the goals of this type of approach? Is it intended to create change in the oppressive power structure, or open the discussion? I'm also wondering if Sheila was ever made aware of her negative impact on Annie? (Did or would reading this article inspire her to change her supervision style?)

Did Annie perceive any value from Sheila's teaching style, or any negatives from Candace's? Was there any re-evaluation after a period of time?

Did you ever have any interview contact with the two supervising teachers, or was all data collected from observation and Annie's interviews? Did you do this intentionally, or did you feel you ended up with a limited perspective?

Pills and PAR

So the question is: Is research a blue pill or a red pill? And my answer is: BOTH. It seems hard to believe that any of us could study a topic, a quantity of information, or a group of people and not be pulled toward some new "truth" in our conclusions. But then again, I picture that first graph we placed ourselves on -- where two out of four quadrants were intended to maintain the status quo. And how how often does it happen that a researcher conducts studies that are aimed at replication, at maintaining the status quo, or supporting the current authority? It can be used as a way to silence the challenges and the critics -- which seems to me to be quite the opposite of the goal of research. Research should constantly question, and challenge, and critique, and if the current "truth" is reinforced, then it is that much stronger for having had the conversation. I think that research SHOULD be the the red pill, but unfortunately it sometimes acts as the blue pill that makes us forget the conversation about how to get there in the first place.

As far as action research -- I love the concept of community participation, and of inside-out empowerment. It can achieve the same results as Critical Research, but in a not-so-critical way. The focus shifts from fighting the system that's working against us, to building our own system that will work FOR us. The researcher can be both particpant and facilitator, but the community does the work and reaps the benefits. Amazing. I've had all kinds of new ideas since Fish and Boulders!

Interpretive

So I just logged in and realized that my post on Interpretive research is NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!! (And now I realize who Vachel was talking to when he reminded us to finish them.)
Unfortunately, I have no clue what I wrote then....but I can still say, two weeks later, that I really like the interpretive approach. It's amazing to notice how differently I might perceive an event or emotion, based on who I am and how I was raised and what my experiences have been, as compared to some other human being who has lived a completely different life than I have. And how am I to understand myself or anyone else if I don't sit down with those comparisons or contrasts to figure out WHY we have different perceptions? That was the intention of the sculpting activity Diane and I used in class -- to demonstrate how crowded the research space really is, and how many people and experiences and personality traits really figure into that one interaction.
The best practice for me might not be the best practice for another. Which one of us will show up in the data, I wonder? Ideally, we would both show up there -- but how can we as researchers make sure this happens?