Epistemological theft and appropriation in qualitative inquiry in applied linguistics: lessons from Halaqa

Within the current turn of decolonization in the field of applied linguistics, the dominant discourses may have little to say about exposing and disrupting the act of epistemological theft and appropriation in qualitative research methodologies, even implicitly. Epistemological theft and appropriation refer to the (in)deliberate intricate acts of dispossessing the original knowers of their epistemological ownership over certain knowledges in their research practices. This paper introduces and operationalizes Halaqa as an alternative way of theorizing and doing qualitative research that is not only anchored in non-western epistemologies but can also be employed as a means for disrupting theft and appropriation in literature review and drawing on participants’ narratives within qualitative inquiry. Through a four-month journey of dialogue with three in-service Saudi western-trained language teachers-educators-researchers in our Halaqa, we co-explored possible mechanisms that foster legitimate ownership of epistemologies and emphasize appreciating other ways of knowing that may not be necessarily aligned with our perspectives about ELT in applied linguistics research. This paper concludes with a call for a nuanced and continuous process of self-critique and reappraisal that centers ethical, moral and epistemic imperatives while doing a literature review and drawing on participants’ narratives.