From a Feminist Ethic of Care to a Total Learning Experience: Co-creating Knowledge with Student Researchers on the AdArchive Project

Abstract

This paper uses the example of a two-year Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) -funded research project at a small regional college in Canada to discuss the difference that research assistant opportunities can make for undergraduate students. We begin by describing our specific project and discussing strategies for inviting and involving students to participate in an innovative, interdisciplinary, and inter-institutional digital humanities project. Student researchers on the team are trained to use digital tools and technologies in the service of humanities research questions. They are also trained in the practice of feminist research methodologies in the digital humanities. As feminist researchers working in a feminist research team environment, it is vital that the relationships that we build with student researchers are grounded in feminist ethics of care, or more specifically, what we are calling here feminist ethics of care pedagogies. In this paper, we consider how a feminist ethic of care is practiced by our research team, with special attention paid to the way that this ethical orientation has enabled us to develop an ethics of care pedagogy that informs the project’s approach to training student researchers. Student research assistants, who are co-authors on this paper, report that the team’s feminist collaborative practices enable meaningful and engaged learning. Ultimately, we argue that despite the instrumentalist orientation of many granting agencies, large research projects may still prioritize holistic development over transactional skills acquisition by emphasizing an ethic of care. In so doing, project directors may facilitate learning environments that value meaningful engagement with knowledge creation, fostering a deeper understanding of the collaborative and relational nature of research itself.