Reproducing violence, racism, and erasure in research

In 2019, we received a Top Paper Award for a paper presented at a national communication conference, despite our erasure of Black women from the history of midwifery in Alabama. We recognize and acknowledge the logics of white supremacy that informed our initial thinking and offer this essay as reparative work. We begin by describing our original research project. Then, we outline the reflexive, intellectual, and methodological practices that informed our critique. We conclude by questioning what scholarship is valued in the academy and what can be done to prevent similar scholarship from being written and rewarded.