Dialogue within and dialogue between: a duoethnography of two researchers in the field of North Korean refugee education

• Published in: International journal of inclusive education Vol. 28; no. 9; pp. 1771 - 1788
• Main Authors: Kang, Shin Ji, Jang, Eun-Young
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Routledge 28.07.2024; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: a third space; dialogic reflection; Duoethnography; Identity; Marginality; North Korean refugee education; Relocation; researcher reflexivity; Students
• ISSN: 1360-3116; 1464-5173
• DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2022.2035438

The purpose of this paper is to document dialogic reflections of two researchers (Shin Ji and Eun-Young) who had conducted collaborative projects on education for youth with North Korean refugee backgrounds. By employing duoethnography, conversations were conducted on the following questions: What are the experiences that impacted our researcher identities? What is the transformative learning emerged from our engagement in NK research? How do we become more holistic researchers through duoethnography? During a series of facilitated dialogues both within and between Shin Ji and Eun-Young, they learned that their personal experiences of marginalisation served as an experiential and emotional foundation for their increased critical awareness of North Korean refugee students: the disparities in position, power and access that the students experienced in the process of resettlement in South Korea. Participating in the duoethnogrphy, the authors also experienced qualitative transformation as they made sense of the ways their identities and NK research were feeding each other. The authors thus concluded that the duoethnography created a third space for them in that it was a personally therapeutic and professionally productive engagement that was able to secure transparency that represents unique insights from each researcher.