Intersectional Reflexivity and Sociological Empathy: Building Legitimacy in Participatory Research Involving LGBTIQ+ Individuals With a Migration Background

In line with questions raised in decolonial feminist research, this article examines the extent to which methodology can transform asymmetrical relationships with respect to age, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, and class between researchers and participants. The analysis is based on field notes from interviews conducted in a participatory research project on the intersectional discrimination experienced by LGBTIQ+ individuals with a migration background in Switzerland. Results show how the articulation of a participatory approach, intersectional reflexivity, and sociological empathy is crucial when conducting research with multiply minoritized people on sensitive topics. Interviews require researchers to reflect on their positionality. Each research encounter involves multiple positionalities based on the diverse, fluid identities that researchers and participants identify with and attribute to each other. Interviews also require that researchers build safety and trust so that participants can experience empathy. Challenges and difficulties in some types of interviews, as with multiply marginalized people or interpreter assistance, clearly show how building safety and trust through intersectional reflexivity and sociological empathy is an ongoing process that requires constant critique and improvement. Our findings support the epistemological position that research teams should include more people directly concerned by the issues under study. They also call for a paradigm shift in academia—one that research funders must actively support.