Authentic Belonging: The Researcher's Eternal Inquisition
Finding Ourselves at the Intersection of Authenticity, Belonging & Qualitative Inquiry
"Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly."
— Epictetus, Discourses, 3.23
ATTN qualitative Inquisitor,
Welcome back to The Qualitative Inquisition!
And welcome to the eternal inquisition familiar to every qualitative researcher: the search for authentic belonging in spaces that often ask us to leave parts of ourselves at the door.
Thank you for joining me in this ongoing reckoning!
One year ago this week, I launched this newsletter and posted my first edition, unsure if my voice would belong here at all.
I still remember the first subscriber who signed up before I even sent the first edition. That single act gave me a boost of possibility and hope. When two paid subscribers followed - my little brothers - it meant the world to me. It wasn’t just support; it was a small affirmation that I and my work belonged somewhere.
Belonging is never that simple, is it? Especially in academia, where belonging often comes with conditions: Tone it down. Be objective. Don’t be too much.
This past year, Qi became a monthly newsletter, balancing my personal health, survival, and the academic job market. It hasn’t always been easy, but I’m grateful I have stayed resilient, even when my own sense of belonging felt fragile.
I reflected on the journey with my academic newsletter recently on my website, which you can read HERE.
I have a lot of ideas for Qi, a lot of different elements that I am still building, but not quite ready to launch at the moment. I am still reflecting on how I can best support and serve others through my passion and specialization in qualitative methods.
Earlier this month, I presented at the APSA Teaching and Learning Conference, sharing my papers on Belonging in Academia and Arts-Based Methods. It was part of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Accessibility track - a space where belonging was both the topic and, as always, the tension in the room.
Here are some general insights on my Belonging paper and presentation.
In the last edition, we explored Emotional Reflexivity in Qualitative Research - and in this one, I want to continue exploring the theme of Identity, and push it further into Authenticity and Belonging, especially as it manifests within our research processes.
We dive into authenticity and belonging - not just as research concepts here, but as practices of survival for those of us who refuse to erase ourselves from the work we do.
Authenticity and Belonging Are Interconnected - And Inescapable
Social science research, especially in its more positivist and objective-leaning forms, has long treated the researcher as a detached observer. But for those of us working in qualitative and decolonial spaces, authenticity and belonging aren’t indulgences - they become methodological imperatives.
Authenticity and belonging challenge us to reimagine and reconsider methods of scientific inquiry or to find other pathways.
In today’s climate, where DEI itself is under siege, being authentic and fighting for belonging is even seen by some as a liability. But they are far from that. These practices strengthen our communities, our trust, and the very knowledge we co-create. They serve as powerful tools that help us navigate how we enter the field, how we engage with study participants, and even how we return to write about what we’ve learned.
Harnessing these tools can strengthen community, connection, trust, and understanding within our research topics, among our informants, and within academic and broader communities.
While authenticity allows us to bring our whole selves into the research process, belonging ensures that we and our participants feel valued and included in these spaces. The two themes are deeply interconnected (Bhasin 2019, 2021). When we allow ourselves to be authentic, we build that sense of belonging, and when we create spaces of belonging, we empower authenticity.
The Researcher’s Inquisition — A Question of Being
Authenticity in qualitative research goes beyond just “being real.”
It is about transparency, where we acknowledge our biases, experiences, vulnerabilities, and positionalities, rather than hiding them behind the myth of neutrality. We embrace the idea that who we are will impact what we study and how we study it.
Belonging isn’t just a feeling. It is about feeling valued, appreciated, and connected. It is the sense that who we are has a place in the work.
Every time we step into the field, take the pen to our notebooks, or hit record, we are not just collecting data, listening intentively, and asking questions - we are entering that eternal inquisition:
Do I belong here? Can I show up as my whole self? Or must I shrink and fit into what academia deems “credible?”
And if I can’t show up as my whole self, what will be the cost? Am I betraying my work, my participants, or myself?
As researchers, we must also cultivate environments where participants feel safe to share their truths, knowing they will be heard and represented with care.
Our authenticity helps create this trust. It assures study participants that we are not just extracting their stories but engaging with them respectfully and ethically.
Navigating Our Own Belonging as Researchers
As we learn from our research informants, we must also take the time to reflect on our sense of belonging within the research process.
Before we even ask participants about their experiences, we need to reflect on our own:
Do I feel connected to this study? If so, how? Am I holding myself at a distance?
Am I cultivating genuine connections and building trust with the communities I study, or am I maintaining an artificial distance?
How do my own experiences of inclusion or exclusion in these shared spaces influence what I see and how I interpret it?
Belonging isn’t just about them. It is about us, too.
As discussed in previous Qi editions, our positionality, experiences, and perspectives influence how we approach research and how we recognize this can help us engage in more ethical and reflexive scholarship.
Creating Spaces for Authenticity and Belonging
Authenticity is about making sure that scholars and all those involved in the research process feel safe and empowered to share their truths.
It is not a solo performance; it’s co-created. Our research informants won’t feel safe with us if we’re hiding who we are. That’s why:
We build trust by being transparent about our goals, motivations, intentions, methods, and even our struggles.
We respect boundaries and avoid extraction, replacing it with reciprocal dialogue, without imposition of one’s dominant narrative.
We invite collaboration and co-creation, giving our study participants the power and agency to shape the research process itself, from defining questions to analyzing results.
There is an ongoing push-and-pull. These are not one event, one time, static achievements. We are in constant negotiations in every interaction, every paper, every interview.
“Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.”
― Brené Brown, Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution.
The Rewards and Risks for Showing Up Whole
Bringing our authentic selves into academic spaces - as researchers, storytellers, and activists - exposes us. It can be both empowering and challenging. It invites critique. It challenges the very foundations of "neutral" research.
But it also creates more genuine connections, strengthens our data, and allows our research to resonate across boundaries with multiple audiences.
Belonging carries similar risks. To truly belong, we must confront power dynamics, ethical dilemmas, and even our own internalized biases. Yet the reward is research that is more just, more honest, more inclusive, and more transformative.
Even now, after more than a decade in research spaces, I still ask myself:
Did I say too much? Did I reveal too little? Is my belonging conditional on silencing part of who I am?
Arts-Based Methods as the Doorway
I’m currently exploring arts-based methods for qualitative research, as one strategy in pedagogy and research to enhance inclusivity and student engagement (Leavy, 2000). Creative methods (i.e., poetry, photography, storytelling) invite students, researchers, and study participants to bring their whole selves into the process. These tools don’t erase power dynamics, but they make space for vulnerability and collective reflection.
My paper for the APSA conference explored how arts-based pedagogy can enhance learning, resilience, and justice in education. And how artistic methods can foster resilience, critical thinking, and justice-oriented pedagogy.
I saw some inspiring connections to games and simulations at the APSA conference and believe there’s potential to expand these approaches through various art mediums, especially in International Relations/Political Science.
[I hope to share my forthcoming publication with you once I find a home for it! I am a little behind in my academic publications right now. But I am crossing my fingers that 2025 will bring some necessary progress! And I wish the same for you, too!]
I have discussed briefly about Arts-based Research (ABR) in my previous newsletters, and I look forward to exploring more in future editions. With my passion for creativity, culture, the arts, and inclusive pedagogy, I see the promising potential of ABR in public policy and political science.
Practical Steps for Your Authentic Inquisition
Here are some steps to help you improve your self-awareness, authenticity, and sense of belonging in the research:
Engage in Reflexivity. Write and journal regularly about your relationship with your research topic. Think critically about how it makes you feel.
Listen with Intention. In conversations with collaborators and study participants, show that their voices matter by listening without judgment or interruption.
Be Transparent. Share your research processes and goals openly with collaborators and study participants to build trust.
Challenge Power Dynamics. Critically reflect on how power dynamics and imbalances undermine true belonging and authenticity and explore constructive and strategic ways to address them.
Encourage Collaboration. Whenever possible, invite your colleagues and research participants to become co-creators of knowledge to nurture a sense of inclusion and ownership of research processes.
Reflection Prompts
Whether you are out doing fieldwork or just journaling your research ideas, here are some prompts to help you navigate your own eternal inquisition:
How do my biases, experiences, motivations, and positionality influence my work?
Where do I feel I belong within this research? Where do I feel I don’t?
What steps can I take to nurture authenticity and belonging for myself, fellow collaborators, and research participants?
Am I willing to name where I feel unsafe, excluded, or silenced in my own academic spaces?
Closing Reflections - This IS Our Inquisition
Authenticity and belonging are not destinations. They are practices that guide how we engage with the world - daily, messy, and imperfect. They impact not only what we study but how we survive in academic and research spaces that often weren’t built with us in mind.
When we embrace this eternal inquisition - not as failure but as practice - we create space for something better: a stronger connection, richer truth, and research that refuses to betray either itself or the people at its heart.
And when we channel both, we can create the spaces for strengthening our connections, honoring the stories and truths of our experiences, and enabling growth.
This search for belonging never ends for the qualitative Inquisitor. Every new project, every new space, reawakens the Inquisition.
Thank You for Being Here - Please Join The Qi Community
Thank you so much for joining me in this reflection on the intersection of authenticity, belonging, and qualitative research.
I appreciate all of you for walking this road with me as The Qualitative Inquisition enters its second year!
There is always so much more to say. There is that added pressure from current events as well. Nevertheless, the intention is to contribute something impactful to an important conversation.
I look forward to continuing these tough conversations around authenticity and belonging in qualitative research, academia, and the workplace, and I hope you will join me!
If you have thoughts, reflections, or feedback, I’d love to hear from you in the comments or directly.
I am anxious to explore more themes together and get more practical beyond the theory and conceptual frameworks in the coming months!
Please stay tuned!
And remember that you belong here. You are enough.
Let’s keep building this community of reflexive, authentic, and revolutionary researchers together.
Happy Black History Month!
Happy Ramadan. And Happy Women’s History Month!
In Solidarity, Curiosity, and Gratitude,
Your fellow qualitative Inquisitor,
Dr. Elsa
P.S. Should you be interested, I’ve also shared some recent Medium pieces related to this topic below. I’ll continue weaving those into future newsletters as well. Thank you for reading and engaging!
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Book Recommendations
The Authenticity Principle: Resist Conformity, Embrace Differences, and Transform How You Live, Work, and Lead, Ritu Bhasin
We’ve Got This: Unlocking the Beauty of Belonging, Ritu Bhasin
Radical Empathy: Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides, Terri E. Givens
Radical Belonging: How to Survive and Thrive in an Unjust World (While Transforming it for the Better), Lindo Bacon
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TRIVIA
Which rap album and artist is widely known for their powerful meditation on identity, authenticity, and systemic oppression, incorporating spoken-word elements and personal narratives?
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Answer from the Previous Edition’s Trivia Question:
Question: What 2015 Disney-Pixar film takes viewers inside the mind of an 11-year-old girl, where emotions like Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust navigate her internal world?
Answer: Inside Out
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“You only are free when you realize you belong no place — you belong every place — no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great.”
- Dr. Maya Angelou