The Potential of Merging Intersectionality and Critical Ethnography for Advancing Refugee Women’s Health Research
The current ANS featured article is titled “The Potential of Merging Intersectionality and Critical
Ethnography for Advancing Refugee Women’s Health Research” authored by Areej Al-Hamad, PhD, RN; Cheryl Forchuk, PhD, O Ont, RN, FCAHS; Abe Oudshoorn, PhD, RN; and Gerald Patrick McKinley, PhD. While this is featured you can download it at no cost. We welcome your comments and discussion of the article here! Here is a message from Dr. Al-Hamad about this work:
At a time of rapidly developing sciences and an enlarging research arena, this article highlights the paradigmatic moments of complexity, collaboration, and unrealized potential of merging critical ethnography and intersectionality. Exploring such theoretical complexity can inform knowledge development and knowledge-to-action for social justice through research. This merger allows scholars to embrace the best of both perspectives versus having to make a trade-off in choosing a single approach. Ultimately, knowledge of the intersection of theoretical perspectives and methodologies supports the advancement of scholarship and refugee women’s health research.
We intersperse our considerations regarding critical ethnography blended with intersectionality and clarify the complexities and strengths of this combination. This article seeks to contribute to critical research methodology by detailing and providing insights into the strength and potential of merging critical ethnography and intersectionality into a combined approach. To mapping the terrain of emancipation and empowerment, we align the philosophical underpinnings and methodology of critical ethnography with an intersectionality-based analysis to demonstrate a coherent fit between the two.
This blended approach is relevant across research with populations on the margins, such as refugee women, particularly research that seeks to effect enhancements in health equity. Ultimately, we should think about a theoretical approach for future nursing research by exploring the synergetic effect of merging critical ethnography and intersectionality.
ANS: Advances in Nursing Science Blog 