From ‘I-Poems’ to ‘Pronoun Poems’: Listening for the Collective Voice Through a Voice-Centred Relational Methodology

Abstract

In this article we present our development and use of pronoun poems when using a voice-centred relational methodology (VCRM). The use of I-poems has been demonstrated as valuable when ‘listening’ for the voices of research participants through a VCRM approach. Through focussing on the ‘I’ pronoun, previous VCRM scholarship has argued that the use of I-poems can facilitate listening for the authentic inner first-person voice of research participants. However, in our research with refugee youth, we found this approach to be limiting – especially when listening for the collective voices of participants. While previous researchers have also drawn on the use of a variety of pronouns when using VCRM poetry, drawing on examples from our previous research with refugee youth it is our intention to build on this scholarship and show how we have listened for the collective voice. Particularly, we demonstrate how our use of these pronoun poems has the specific intention of tuning the listener’s ear to the ontological collective voices of participants, and the harmony and/or consonance of these voices within a socio-cultural context. In doing so, we argue the importance of researchers acknowledging the cultural underpinnings of their assumptions when engaging with participants’ voices through VCRM poetry. As a method with the goal of championing and centring the diversity of voices, providing an approach that acknowledges the use of the collective voice furthers the development of this method to achieve such a goal.