ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a new methodology developed and piloted for a project on the lived experiences of black women with advanced cancer. It argues there is a need for a defined black feminist epistemological methodology, which acts as a bridge between the epistemological commitment of black feminist theory and the traditional qualitative research methods of interviews and observations. Finally, black feminist epistemology requires personal accountability of the researcher. Since knowledge is built upon lived experience, the assessment of knowledge is also an assessment of an individual’s character, values, ethics, and concrete practices. By leaving out both collective dialogue and the ethics of caring—or making them deliberately separate from the data collection process—it is easy for researchers to marginalize research participants.
