Only a few classes into the Fall 2008 semester of my 2nd year as a PhD student in the iSchool at the University of Maryland, I am faced with some challenging information - the history of qualitative research methods.  My first reaction is a recollection to something I recently read by Nikki Giovanni about how higher education is in itself a racist and classist descriptor.  Qualitative research has it's beginnings in studying the 'other' and presents the 'other' as powerless, lower class, at times illiterate, and darker skinned.  For many reasons, these descriptors are challenging to me as one of two Black female students currently in the program.  It forces me to reflect upon a number of things - Nikki Giovanni's comments being one of them.  This is a glaring challeng to me because my … [Read more...]