Decolonizing Research Methodologies: Weaving a Third Space With Métissage and Duoethnography

Abstract

As a qualitative researcher whose interest lies in collaborative, emancipatory, and decolonizing practices, I have two purposes with this article. First, I explore the history, tenets, processes, and applications of two nascent research methodologies, duoethnography and métissage and put them up against each other to highlight similarities and contradistinctions. Secondly, I examine how these research methodologies naturally align with a relational, Indigenist orientation where the production of knowledge comes from within and between the researchers employing an ethical third space. Using a framework of four practices proposed by Thambinathan and Kinsella (2021), I analyze and illustrate how duoethnography and métissage can be used as decolonizing approaches, and then close the discussion with an invitation to take up these potentially transformational methodologies.