ABSTRACT
This chapter briefly introduces Valerie as the central figure of the book. This is followed by Valerie’s presentation of how she understands her “identities.” Valerie’s narrative is followed by those of her brother, sister, father, as well as by perspectives of several of her friends. This sequence of narratives is meant to illustrate polyvocality. At this point in the book, except for a brief presentation to introduce Valerie, her family members and friends at the beginning of the chapter, these multiple voices are provided with as little intervention, interpretation or analysis by the author as possible. After each voice ends, however, the readers are invited to compare and contrast it against the previous voices via discussion questions and exercises. Are the perspectives identical and, if not, how and why do they vary? What do different voices emphasize and what do they ignore? Why is it important to de-couple the narratives from the authors’ analyses? Feminist epistemology holds that all perspectives are partial and encouraging readers to analyze these accounts themselves prior to reading the scholar’s analyses underscores that everyone brings their intersectional positionalities and subjectivities to their “reading” of others’ data.
