The Black Podcaster-Scholar: A Critical Reflection of Using Podcasting as Methodology as a Black Doctoral Student

Abstract

I am a Black woman, a doctoral candidate, and a podcaster. In every facet of those identities, I have been worried about my voice. As a young child, teachers pushed me to sound “collegiate” and not “ghetto” so I could impress our private Christian school’s predominantly White and male board of directors. My graduate and doctoral programs led me to challenge and critique previous ideologies around voice and audience, while also perpetuating gatekeeping via academic jargon. Podcasting became a way for me to resist falling into the social norms of voice in the academy, but not without confronting challenges the industry itself carried around voice as well as my own insecurities. Beyond a text replacement and a way for doctoral students and faculty to widen their audience and build a brand, podcasting in the academy should be recognized as a critical reflective praxis for scholars that centers the voices of those that often go silenced or ignored. This article is a critical reflection of my methodological use of podcasting to resist data collection norms and traditional research boundaries in the academy while also confronting my own internalized anti-Blackness surrounding Black sonic existence.

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