CONNECTING METHOD AND EPISTEMOLOGY - A WHITE WOMAN INTERVIEWING BLACK-WOMEN

This article reviews the literature produced by feminists on women interviewing women. It questions some of its underlying assumptions both on the basis of critiques of feminist work by Black feminists and on the basis of the author's own experiences as a white woman interviewing Afro-Caribbean women. It is suggested here that when the interviewer is white the contacting and interviewing of Black women needs to be conducted in a different way from that of white women so as to take account of the meanings of race for Black women. It is argued that following a feminist methodology is the way to achieve this. Additionally, some indications of the ways in which their sex may unite both Black and white women are drawn out. © 1990.