Co-Creando Rituales / Co-Creating Rituals to Hold Our Work as Anti-Oppressive Counselors and Researchers

Abstract

Counselors and qualitative researchers have the honor of hearing peoples’ stories and thus have a great responsibility to explore and use clinical and research methodologies that are anti-oppressive, liberatory, and healing. Therefore, in 2019 we began a photovoice project alongside seven queer womxn of color (QWoC) that collaboratively explored their experiences of microaggressions in counseling. Through this journey, we recognized that to be fully present with the “co-researchers’” (participants’) narratives and experiences, we needed to remain attuned and grounded. We engaged in what we now call “rituals” before research team meetings to support our work as counselors and anti-oppressive researchers throughout this photovoice project. These intentional, emotional, embodied, and spiritual practices allowed us to be open with ourselves and with the co-researchers during the research process. In this article, we discuss several rituals we created that helped us engage in critical reflexivity, [un]learn extractive research practices, and explore our intentions, thus allowing us to connect with our embodied experiences and co-researchers’ narratives in a deeper and more meaningful way.