ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the issues of epistemology in conducting research on Black women and the particular challenges that Black women scholars writing about Black women in politics face in publishing their findings. It agrees at the outset that research on Black women's lives shapes our methodological approaches and choices of methods and that bringing Black women's studies into political science compels us to utilize a diverse array of postpositivist methods, some of which are more popular in other disciplines and may only now be gaining traction in political science. The chapter asks questions about the scope and range of these methodological shifts, how our epistemologies and concepts change, and how we publish research on Black women in politics. This symposium emerges from two panels at the 2014 National Conference of Black Political Scientists: "Black Women and Politics: Issues, Challenges, Opportunities" as well as ongoing discussions about black women in politics.
