Julie Quynh Nhi Tran
When the researcher’s stance also belongs to that of the object of study, it is necessary to reflect on one’s own relationship and the effects this produces in order to achieve objectivity in the research (Hamisultane, 2014). In this regard, the decolonial perspective in research, particularly through the writings of Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo, Frantz Fanon, and other intellectuals, invites us to initiate a “decolonization of the mind” and to develop “critical consciousness.” In social work, this reflexive stance is deployed particularly through exercises in critical self-reflection (Hamisultane, 2022; Lee et al., 2017). What about clinical research, especially from a decolonial perspective? This article proposes to provide reflexive data to articulate clinical sociology, an epistemological approach to stance, with autoethnography. By reflecting on my stance as a doctoral researcher moving towards a decolonial epistemological approach, I explore how this stance will allow me to develop reflexivity on my involvement and my relationship to the research object—in my case, women of Vietnamese descent in Quebec.