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7 - Personal and collective testimony

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Pranee Liamputtong
Pranee Liamputtong
Affiliation:
La Trobe University, Victoria
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Summary

In listening to the stories of indigenous storytellers, we learn new ways of being moral and political in the social world. We come together in a shared agenda, with a shared imagination and a new language, struggling together to find liberating ways of interpreting and performing in the world. In this way, does research cease to be a dirty word?

(Denzin et al. 2008a: 15)

By speaking collectively, women of color not only reclaim their humanity but, at the same time, empower themselves by making sense of their experience of vulnerability and subjugation.

(Madriz 2000: 843).

Based on theoretical frameworks that I discussed in Chapter 1, I now introduce some qualitative methods in this chapter and the next. I make no claim that all qualitative methods will be appropriate in cross-cultural research. This is precisely what Esther Madriz (2000: 840) has suggested: ‘Some methodologies are more suitable than others for shattering a colonizing discourse in which images of research subjects as the Other are constantly reproduced’ (see also Fine 1994; Denzin et al. 2008a; Liamputtong 2008). Thus, I will focus only on those methods that will allow cross-cultural researchers to work more sensitively with the research participants. I shall, however, provide some useful reading materials for readers to consult further at the end of the chapter.

Oral/life history, according to Valerie Yow (2005: 3), ‘is the recording of personal testimony delivered in oral form’ (see also Benmayor 1991; Banks-Wallace 2002).

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Chapter
Information
Performing Qualitative Cross-Cultural Research , pp. 162 - 185
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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References

Al-Ali, N. S. (2007). Iraqi women: Untold stories from 1948 to the present. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
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Behar, R. (1993). Translating woman: Crossing the border with Esperanza's story. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Charlton, T. L., Meyers, L. E., & Sharpless, R. (Eds.) (2006). Handbook of oral history. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.
Gluck, S. B., & Patai, D. (1991). Women's words: The feminist practice of oral history. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hennink, M. M. (2007). International focus group research: A handbook for the health and social sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liamputtong, P. (2007). Researching the vulnerable: A guide to sensitive research methods. London: Sage Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liamputtong, P. (2009). Qualitative research methods, 3rd edition. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Madriz, E. (2000). Focus groups in feminist research. In Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research, 2nd edition (pp. 835–850). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Mehnchú, R. (1984). I, Rigoberta Mehnchú: An Indian woman in Guatemala, trans. Wright, A.. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Rintoul, S. (1993). The wailing: A national black oral history. Port Melbourne: William Heinemann.Google Scholar
Stephenson, P. (2007). The outsiders within: Telling Australia's indigenous-Asian story. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.Google Scholar
Vissandjée, B., Abdool, S. N., & Dupéré, S. (2002). Focus groups in rural Gujarat, India: A modified approach. Qualitative Health Research 12(6), 826–843.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Willis, E., Pearce, M., & Jenkin, T. (2005). Adapting focus group methods to fit Aboriginal community-based research. Qualitative Research Journal 5(2), 112–123.Google Scholar
Yow, V. R. (2005). Recording oral history: A guide for the humanities and social sciences, 2nd edition. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.Google Scholar

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