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Abstract

This paper contains a demonstration of the value of feminist insider research. Through bringing together principles of feminist insider research, narrative therapy theory and practice, and my positionality as a researcher, a narrative therapist, and a woman who lost her husband to suicide, I developed a research methodology that was sensitive and effective in exploring the lived experiences and insider knowledge of women who have lost a male partner to suicide. Careful utilisation of my insider positionality benefited the research in multiple ways, from recruitment and care of participants to data analysis and knowledge production, to the generation of research outcomes that were meaningful to participants and practitioners as well as academics. In this paper, I reflect critically on my positionality and how it was brought to bear on this research, noting the power relations involved as well as the access that my status granted me, and the (tacit) knowledges that I could draw from during the research process. This paper is filled with the benefits to research conducted from an insider position, particularly for topics associated with shame and stigma, as well as offers of possible responses to the complexities involved.

Keywords

narrative therapy, insider research, feminist research, memory work, suicide, critical suicidology, bereavement

Author Bio(s)

Marnie Sather works as a narrative therapist in Melbourne, Australia. She has a long-standing passion for making room in therapeutic and community work for complex understandings of suicide, including with those bereaved by suicide. Her current project interest is children’s experiences of bereavement because of suicide. Please direct correspondence to marniesather275@gmail.com

Acknowledgements

This paper draws on my Ph.D. research, which was conducted at The University of Melbourne. I would like to acknowledge with gratitude my supervisors Professor Marie Connolly, Professor Lynette Joubert, and Dr. David Denborough, and the Chair of my research committee, Professor Louise Harms. I would particularly like to acknowledge the women who were participants in this study who took up my invitation to share challenging parts of their lives to make a difference. This research would not have been possible without them.

Publication Date

12-23-2024

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7806

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