“To Whom Are We Accountable?”

The purpose of this chapter is to examine and interrogate the tensions inherent in doing critically oriented research with and alongside historically marginalized communities. Drawing from critical methodological literature and their own experiences, the authors discuss these tensions across three dimensions: epistemological, positional, and institutional. In the first section, the authors define these dimensions in terms of the tensions inherent in a critical stance. The second section applies these lenses to their own research, providing examples of the messy, precarious, and ethical considerations encountered throughout the critical research process. In the conclusion, they reflect on their guiding principles and lessons learned to provide readers with epistemological, positional, and institutional considerations necessary for engaging in critical muxerista community-oriented research.