You get tenure, what do I get?: Using art to interrogate a researcher’s dilemma

Abstract

White researcher-advocates whose explorations are situated in schools serving predominantly African American students hope that their research will improve the academic possibilities for those students and reverse systemic injustice. While racial oppression continues as a central thread in the fabric of American educational institutions, white scholars continue to benefit from their research. Through arts-based methods, I explore this issue as it relates to my own research identity and question whether, despite my goals, I am complicit with hegemonic practices that oppress communities of colour within educational contexts. edUcAtIonAl reseArch And mY stAnce As A reseArcher Research authenticity (Guba and Lincoln 1989; Tobin 2006) demands that all participants in qualitative studies benefit from the research endeavour. In alignment with this concept, educational researchers need to see themselves not as disinterested observers but as advocates for the students they engage with. Nevertheless, those of us who work with black youth in the public schools reap many career benefits from our research, including tenure, awards and recognition, while the benefits of the research for the students we research with are uncertain. More doubtful still are the benefits to black youth KeYwords arts-based research anti-blackness special education whiteness disability research authenticity research ethics 01_VI 7.3_Fellner_167-181.indd 169 02/03/19 12:06 PM