Weaving an Otherwise: In-Relations Methodological Practice

This book reconceptualizes qualitative research as an in-relations process, one that is centered on, fully concerned with, and lifts up those who have been and continue to be dispossessed, harmed, dehumanized, and erased because of white supremacy, settler colonialism, or other hegemonic world views.

Leigh Patel is a writer, educator, and cultural worker. Her work is based in the knowledge that as long as oppression has existed so have freedom struggles. She is a community-based researcher as well as an eldercare provider. Prior to being employed as a professor, she was a middle school language arts teacher, a journalist, and a state-level policymaker. She is also a proud national board member of Education for Liberation, a nonprofit that focuses on supporting low-income people, particularly youth of color, to understand and challenge the injustices their communities face. Professor Patel’s writing ranges from short essays for public outlets, such as Beacon Broadside, NPR, The Conversation and The Feminist Wire, and the Chronicle for Higher Education. Her latest book, There is No Study Without Struggle: Confronting Settler Colonialism in Higher Education, from Beacon Press connects the distinct yet deeply connected forms of oppression while also shedding light on the crucial nature of political education for social transformation. Her walk-on song is ＂Can I Kick It＂ by ATCQ. You can follow her on twitter @lipatel.

K. Wayne Yang writes about decolonization and everyday epic organizing, particularly from underneath ghetto colonialism, often with his frequent collaborator, Eve Tuck, and sometimes for an avatar called La Paperson. Currently, they are convening The Land Relationships Super Collective with several Indigenous and non-Indigenous community organizations engaged in land-based projects. Dr. Yang’s work transgresses the line between scholarship and community, as evidenced by his involvement in urban education and community organizing. Before his academic career, he was a public school teacher in Lisjan Ohlone territory, now called Oakland, California, where he co-founded the Avenues Project, a youth development non-profit organization, as well as East Oakland Community High School, which were inspired by the Survival Programs of the Black Panther Party. He is provost of Muir College and professor in ethnic studies at UC San Diego.

Dr. Amanda R. Tachine is Navajo from Ganado, Arizona. She is Náneesht’ézhí Táchii’nii (Zuni Red Running into Water clan) born for Tl’izilani (Many Goats clan). She is an Assistant Professor in Educational Leadership & Innovation at Arizona State University. Amanda’s research explores the relationship between systemic and structural histories of settler colonialism and the ongoing erasure of Indigenous presence and belonging in college settings using qualitative Indigenous methodologies. Her dissertation titled, Monsters and Weapons: Navajo students’ stories on their journeys to college was awarded the 2016 American Educational Research Association Division J Dissertation of the Year. She has published in the Journal of Higher Education, Qualitative Inquiry, International Review of Qualitative Research, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, and other scholarly outlets.

Dr. Z Nicolazzo is an associate professor of Trans* Studies in Education in the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Arizona. Z’s research explores how discourses of gender pervade and mediate college environments, with particular attention paid to trans people. Additionally, her latest scholarship focuses on how trans people cultivate future possible selves through digital/online platforms, as well as how higher education invests in the logics of transmisogyny. Her first book, Trans* in college: Transgender students’ strategies for navigating campus life and the institutional politics of inclusion, was awarded the 2017 American Educational Research Association Division J Publication of the Year Award, and was published by Stylus in 2017.