A CULTURAL CROSSROADS: THE TEAR IN THE FABRIC BETWEEN RESEARCH AND LIBERATORY MOVEMENTS - AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT

Abstract

Traditional research practices and data generation conventions are critically important to the ways in which we formulate policy, opinion, and the law. These research practices, however, have long been steeped in systems of oppression and racialized sociopolitical ideology, and must shift with the needs of the most marginalized communities both historically, and in our time. This thesis focuses on the need for the incorporation of intersectional approaches and critical theoretical background in academic best practices across disciplines. To avoid further contributing to the disenfranchisement of underrepresented groups, scholars seeking to generate research for the benefit of marginalized communities must incorporate the lived experiences of these communities in their research. By rooting the ways we conceive of and conduct research projects in critical race theory, critical queer theory, and abolitionist feminist politics, we can address research’s complicity in upholding systems of oppression through lenses of whiteness, heteronormativity, and cisnormativity. Through a survey of queer and trans youth and a set of oral histories of queer and trans adults, this thesis generates thought, analysis, and data on the necessity for making these holistic shifts in research practices on a broad scale