Messy Methods and Emergent Ethics
Reflections on the Transformative Storytelling Project
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14288/canlit.vi264.200382Keywords:
trans studies, community-engaged research, creative writing, pedagogy, research ethics, messy methods, emergent strategy, COVID-19, adaptive methodologyAbstract
The Transformative Storytelling project was a virtual creative writing workshop for trans, Two-Spirit, and nonbinary authors across Canada, developed in 2021 by the Three Hares Collective in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this essay, co-organizer Markus Harwood-Jones reflects on this project and the use of “messy methods” when working alongside marginalized communities in crisis. Extending this approach to the project’s enrollment process further called for Harwood-Jones and his collaborators to incorporate “emergent” ethical protocols—a shift that also came with its own institutional and interpersonal risks. Situated amid these uncomfortable tensions of researcher responsiveness and responsibility, this article contributes to ongoing debates about solidarity as both a material practice and a negotiated ethos.
