Ditchin’ the Master’s Gardening Tools for Our Own: Growing a Womanist Methodology from the Grassroots

© 2015 by the board of trustees of the university of ill inois This essay explores the autoethnographic possibilities of critical service-learning research and the emerging realities of a community-centered womanist methodological response. As Cynthia Dillard points out, “[T]he underlying understanding of the nature of reality and the forms of discourse one employs (or is encouraged or permitted to employ) to construct realities in research . . . significantly impacts not only what can be said and how it is said, but where it is said” (On Spiritual Strivings 1, emphasis added). Drawing from Alice Walker’s definition of womanist as a commitment to “survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female” (xi), I argue that this approach is especially relevant to research centered on urban communities and populations of color. Womanist epistemology challenges assumptions requiring such groups to be represented and “spoken for” based on a singular conception of “truth” through a positivistic lens (Dillard, “On Spiritual Strivings” 4). Given their commitment to Black female cultural expressions, everyday conversations, and life stories, womanist epistemology and theory seek to disrupt dominant ways of knowing. Both have strong implications in research, creating an ethos of responsibility that not only provides a space for previously unheard voices to speak but also builds meaningful relationships among community members and researchers that ensure more accurate representation extending well beyond data collection and interpretation.