Defying gravity? raising consciousness through collective research

What are the methodological and theoretical issues of doing collective research? While raising questions that speak to the process and point to the high and low lights of a collaborative research approach, my paper addresses issues of representation and shifting power that are central to feminist inquiry, critical pedagogy, critical race theory, and research concerned with social (in)justice and inclusion. Specifically this paper grapples with the possibility of research as a vehicle for social change (Kitchin and Hubbard, 1999; Fine and Barreras, 2001; Torre, 2001; Clarke, 2003; Pain, 2003; Pain and Francis, 2003; Ruddick, 2004). Consideration is given to the potential of the research process to provide a space for questioning exclusionary practices and social inequities. The discussion focuses on a participatory action research project in which a group of young women researchers critically examine their home community—the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City—making often painful connections between economic restructuring and their own lives. I report on the project that this research team developed, ‘MAKES ME MAD: Stereotypes of young urban womyn of color’, which deals with how the lack of resources in their community is related to the ways in which these young women are perceived (Rios-Moore, 2004). The outline of the project that follows offers a broad overview of what was a very complex, intense, and rich experience. My discussion of the project will center on three critical turning points: emotional motivation; the politicization of personal experience; and the power of speaking back with research. These are critical moments where the research team (including myself) learned something new; they are collective landmarks