Double invisibility: West Indian American narratives challenging American ideas of race and ethnicity

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to highlight the arbitrary divides within qualitative research that separate individual identity narratives from dominant cultural narratives. Addressing this divide in qualitative research is essential since individual identity narratives are a vehicle through which dominant cultural contexts and constructs are challenged and resisted. To do this, the following uses the Listening Guide Method of Qualitative Inquiry (the Listening Guide, LG) to identify and explore how individual narratives challenge and resist dominant cultural contexts and constructs, particularly those centered on race and ethnicity. From interviews with six college educated, West Indian, participant women, 2 voices—Canned Laughter and the Female Cultural Outsider—emerged from these data. Our article offers two conclusions. First, the voice of Canned Laughter emerged when participant women gave voice to moments where individual identity narratives grated against dominant cultural contexts and constructs. Second, the Female Cultural Outsider emerged when participant women gave voice to individual narratives in relationship to dominant American racial and ethnic narratives.