AAACE 2021 Annual Conference

Virtual Platforms; Critical Methods; Chicanas/Latinas

COVID-19 impacted interpersonal dynamics by limiting interaction to virtual platforms. Face-to-face adult educational research was modified to comply with public health guidelines forcing Chicana feminist researchers in adult education to mitigate issues of power and privilege imposed on participants. Methods such as platicas and testimonios need adaptations for virtual platforms.

Our session will describe the impact COVID-19 has had on critical qualitative research embedded within a Chicana feminist theoretical framework. How as Chicana/Latina scholars, we discovered that our cultural practices and experiences are not so easily transmitted through one-dimensional or two-dimensional virtual platforms. We will engage session participants in a discussion about shifting critical qualitative research studies onto online spaces and explore the possible ways to mitigate “Othering” and provide support while performing in the capacity of researchers aiming to create more conducive studies that align with critical paradigms. The world is calling for social change and justice. Adult education research needs to answer this call, but how can we if we continue Othering marginalized groups and neglecting additional issues? As adult education researchers, our role is to mitigate the challenges of a virtual platform to be more conducive to critical research methods like "platicas" and "testimonios." We can have innovative methodologies in adult education and challenge oppressive social constructs, but we should also recognize issues that arise from social distancing. Issues that place participants in power differences with the researcher or privilege participants with digital literacy prevent the disassociation from a positivistic paradigm.