Affirming Methodologies: Recognition, Dignity, and Doing Right by Participants

Research at the Margins Tide
Written By Guest User

In this episode of Saltwater Reasonings, Shakeisha Wilson Scott reflects on what it means to practise affirming methodologies within social work and community-based research. The conversation moves from language to labour, from citation to recognition, and from formal ethics approval to the deeper ethics of presence.

Shakeisha begins by interrupting the language of “championing” change, insisting instead that communities remain at the helm of their own transformation. This refusal opens a wider reflection on power, humility, and accountability in research practice.

Together, we explore the difference between citation and recognition, questioning whether academic acknowledgement alone honours the knowledge of those whose lives shape research. The episode also attends closely to the emotional and spiritual labour involved in ethical practice, particularly when navigating institutional demands alongside commitments to dignity and care.

Drawing on Caribbean intellectual traditions and the mentorship of scholars such as Barry Chevannes and Erna Brodber, Shakeisha situates affirming methodologies within longstanding regional practices of being with people rather than extracting from them.

What This Episode Offers

  • A critical reframing of affirming methodologies as ethical posture rather than procedural technique

  • A clear distinction between citation and recognition in research culture

  • Reflection on emotional and spiritual labour in community-centred practice

  • Insight into cultural humility as lived practice, particularly within Caribbean contexts

  • A challenge to saviour narratives in social work and research

  • An invitation to reimagine research as relationship, reciprocity, and accountability

  • For scholars, social workers, and researchers committed to decolonial and justice-oriented practice, this episode provides both conceptual clarity and grounded reflection on how we show up in the spaces we are invited into.

📚 Further Reading / Resources

Edited Book

  • Nakhid-Chatoor, M., Nakhid, C., Fernandez-Santana, A. & Wilson-Scott, S. (Eds). (2023) Affirming methodologies: Research and education in the Caribbean, Routledge: New York, NY.

    Journal Articles

  • Wilson Scott, S., Daniels, CA, Moss, T., & Mertens, D. (2026) [forthcoming]. Qualitatively driven Mixed Methods Research in the Caribbean context: Beyond Western paradigms. Journal of Mixed Methods Research

  • Wilson, S., Conn, C., Nayar, S. & Waters, T. (2023). Understanding the antiretroviral treatment experience of men attending a HIV clinic in Jamaica. Caribbean Medical Journal, DOAJ: 25c8fd70593149bb8bd1aaf6b57be781

  • Fernandez-Santana, A., Nakhid, C., Nakhid-Chatoor, M., & Wilson-Scott, S. (2019). Liming and Ole Talk: Foundations for and characteristics of a culturally relevant Caribbean methodology. Caribbean Studies, Vol. 47(1), pp. 99 – 123.

  • Wilson, S., Nakhid, C., Fernandez-Santana, A. & Nakhid-Chatoor, M. (2018). An interrogation of research on Caribbean social issues: Establishing the need for an indigenous Caribbean research approach. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples. Vol. 15(1), pp. 3 – 12. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1177180118803692

  • Nakhid-Chatoor, M., Nakhid, C., Wilson, S. & Fernandez-Santana, A. (2018). Exploring Liming and Ole Talk as a culturally relevant methodology for researching with Caribbean people. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406918813772

Guest User
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