Researching Authentic Relational Communities
Research Insight #1:
Embrace Identity and Positionality as a Research Resource
Emerging Question: How does who we are shape what we can understand about community?
Perhaps the most simple yet transformative discovery was that scholars' identities and positionalities weren't outliers to account for but essential aspects of how they understood and engaged with communities. Each fellow brought the fullness of who they were to their time and work within an authentic relational research community: whether as queer individuals, members of a global majority underrepresented and marginalized in their current environments, people navigating religious transitions. Within an authentic relational research community, these experiences are recognized and highly valued for shaping researchers' interactions and insights.
Imma Honkanen (Sociology PhD, University of Washington)'s research interests in queer identity/community, policing, and surveillance brought depth to the cohort's conversations. Her scholarly focus on the importance of sustained and protected community positioned her to understand the complex dynamics of insider-outsider positioning within research relationships, especially those involving folks who have been historically marginalized or feel vulnerable.
Imma Honkanen (IRH Fellow, Sociology, University of Washington)
"Throughout this program, I was specifically interested in delving deeper into positionality within research, given that I study a community I am a part of... Understanding the cycle of being in and out of different research populations is vital to conducting community-oriented research."
Imma's exploration of positionality as an insider-researcher studying a marginalized community she is a part of transformed what might be seen as methodological 'contamination' in traditional frameworks into valuable data about authenticity itself. Understanding the cycle of being 'in' and 'out' of different research populations is vital to conducting community-oriented research. This insider-outsider dynamic became central to understanding how authenticity requires ongoing negotiation rather than fixed positioning—a key aspect of the Middle Way approach that honors both connection and critical distance.
The practice of embracing identity and positionality within a community is not a simple task. Creating a research community where people can be themselves means recognizing that everyone has different comfort levels when it comes to sharing personal experiences and building trust. Authentic engagement within the research community may look different for each person based on their social positioning and lived experiences. What feels safe for one person might feel risky for another, depending on their background and what they've been through. Some people might jump right into deep conversations, while others need more time to feel comfortable opening up. Building trust takes time and looks different for everyone.
As the research community grew closer, fellows faced an incommensurable reality: sometimes we simply couldn't fully understand what another person had experienced. A white researcher studying racial justice might read all the literature, but they'll never know what it feels like to navigate racism personally. A straight person can be an ally to LGBTQ+ communities without ever experiencing discrimination based on sexual orientation. Researchers who share the same ethnic or religious identity as the community they research but hold different positionalities that threaten to cause ruptures or conflict. These gaps in understanding are real and can't be researched away. Rather than seeing these differences as barriers, fellows in the relational research community learned to work with them.
The key was staying committed to connection even through moments when the community couldn't fully understand each other's experiences. This actually created space for more honest collaboration because people didn't have to pretend their experiences were the same or easily translatable.
The strongest moments of connection in the group didn't come from solving differences around identity, or setting boundaries for safety or disclosure, but from learning how to navigate these ongoing tensions together—with patience, respect, and genuine curiosity about each other's perspectives. This kind of authenticity through navigation (not resolution) requires showing up consistently for the messy, ongoing work of understanding across differences.
This embrace of positionality revealed a deeper tension—how to honor both community wisdom born from lived experience and the academic rigor that institutional structures demand. The fellows' diverse identities positioned them uniquely to navigate this challenge.