Qualitative Research in Psychology
Volume 15, Issue 4, 2018, Pages 489-519

Decolonizing qualitative research through transformative community engagement: critical investigation of resilience with Palestinian refugees in the West Bank (Article)

Atallah D.G.* , Shapiro E.R. , Al-Azraq N. , Qaisi Y. , Suyemoto K.L.
  • a Boston University School of Education, Boston, MA, United States
  • b Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Public Policy Research and Transnational, Cultural, and Community Studies Program, University of Massachusetts, Boston, United States
  • c 1for3, Boston, MA, United States
  • d Boston-based, certificated Arabic-English medical interpreter and translator and member of Boston Interpreters Collective, United States
  • e Transnational, Cultural, and Community Studies Program and Psychology and Asian American Studies, University of Massachusetts, Boston, United States

Abstract

Histories of violence and ongoing settler-colonialism impacting Palestinian communities living under Israeli occupation require unique, critical enactments of psychology research. The current article reflects on community engagement strategies used in a qualitative study of resilience with Palestinian refugees entitled: Palestinian Refugee Family Trees of Resilience (PRFTR). In realizing PRFTR, the authors developed partnerships between University of Massachusetts Boston’s clinical psychology program and a Community-Based Organization in a United Nations refugee camp in the West Bank, completing in-depth interviews (N=30) with families surviving complex histories of settler-colonial violence. Participatory engagement, decolonial theories, and grounded theory situational analysis, together helped generate understandings of resilience from indigenous perspectives. This article analyzes PRFTR’s power dynamics and investigative processes, highlighting seven transformative community engagement strategies implemented Before and During research activities, outlined in a step-wise “A to G” framework. These seven strategies contribute to understandings of decolonizing enactments of qualitative methods within a Middle Eastern context. © 2018, © 2018 Taylor & Francis.

Author Keywords

Community engagement Palestinian refugees critical research decolonizing qualitative methods family resilience Settler-colonialism

Index Keywords

[No Keywords available]
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85040975386&doi=10.1080%2f14780887.2017.1416805&partnerID=40&md5=5933bdca561c63f4fbeec85d472d8bd2
DOI: 10.1080/14780887.2017.1416805
ISSN: 14780887
Cited by: 4
Original Language: English