Doing Research Differently: Fostering Relational Ethics in Research Teams

Abstract

Feminist research methods have been historically collaborative and team-based, using the expertise of multiple researchers to analyze complex social problems. However, while feminist research teams often aim to be non-hierarchal and push against pre-existing power structures, they still exist within the neoliberal university which mediates how this resistance shows up. In this paper, we reflect on how a relational ethics of care can act as a disruptor to neoliberal academia. We offer reflections from a feminist research group on how we adopted a relational ethics of care and the impact it had on the research process. This article is not meant to be a guidebook for how to show care and resist neoliberal academic structure, but rather we hope to contribute to the ongoing conversations about how we can show up for each other and ourselves as researchers and beyond. We share this story in an attempt to foster a hopefulness within the messiness of relational research processes that have the potential to cultivate more compassionate and caring ways to conduct research.