Positionality and Reflexivity
In this episode, Anna invites Meena and Keisha to discuss reflexivity. This is when researchers acknowledge that they are active agents of the research process. Traditionally, researchers can take the position of outsiders (conducting research with or on communities they are NOT a part of) or insiders (conducting research within or on communities they are a part of) and, more recently, in-betweeners. They focus on the strengths (e.g., building a rapport) and limitations (e.g., managing emotions and attachment during the fieldwork) of being an insider/in-betweener and reflect on who should be leading anti-racism research.
Podcast Guests
Keisha York
Keisha York is an ESRC LISS DTP-funded PhD Candidate in Organisational Psychology at King’s College London who uses pioneering techniques and methods to investigate the feasibility of embodied virtual reality on UK employees’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviours towards diversity and inclusion. Furthermore, she has an MSc in Organisational Psychiatry & Psychology and a BSc from the University of Southampton in Criminology & Psychology. Alongside her PhD work, she guest lectures on diversity management, cross-cultural psychology, academic skills, and practices as a diversity consultant for a non-profit organisational entity and higher education institutions. Prior work has involved formulating bespoke, evidence-based solutions to enrich employee wellbeing and deliver organisational-wide diversity training programmes. Keisha is also recognised nationally, by King’s College London, Queen Mary University of London, Royal College of Psychiatrists, and the British Psychological Society, for founding the BiPP Network, a registered social enterprise, and regularly developing initiatives which advocate for inclusive and equitable cultures within psychiatry and psychology. With strong academic interests in diversity and well-being management, digital workplace solutions and cross-cultural psychology, Keisha’s work champions an ethical workplace that maximises the benefits of cultural diversity using pioneering and technologically advanced innovations.
London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership
Meena Khatwa
Meena has worked at UCL since 2014. SSRU previously employed her between 2009-2012 as a researcher on the CASCADE study, which involved recruitment, data collection and analysis of young people with Type 1 diabetes. Her research expertise centres around qualitative evidence synthesis, stakeholder engagement and participatory methods, specifically on policy-relevant systematic reviews funded by the Department of Health and Social Care England. Over the years, she has developed a research portfolio focusing on social and health inequalities amongst vulnerable and marginalised communities.
Meena has a background in migration histories, gender, race and culture using postcolonial and black feminist theoretical frameworks. She has an undergraduate degree in Sociology and was awarded a PhD by the Faculty of Law, Social Sciences & Geography at Queen Mary, University of London, for her thesis: Life Journeys: Narratives of Hindu Mothers & Daughters in British Homes. Her research led her to further develop knowledge and expertise in narrative methods, auto-ethnography and positionality. Meena is also a published author of creative non-fiction and was interviewed about the process
Outside of work, Meena is involved in various local community activities such as the Save the Lewisham Hospital Campaign, a volunteer researcher for the Museum of Slavery and Freedom, Ladywell Women’s safety project and a critical friend on ‘In/Visible Labour’ a new arts engagement project with Maternity Voices Partnership, a network affiliated to Lewisham Hospital Maternity Services.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @DrMeenaKhatwa
