The others and/in me

This autoethnographic paper is about how my first paper
took its tangible form. When for the first time I attempted to write an academic
paper meant for a conference presentation, I struggled to speak in my own voice. In
the process of discovering a distinct manner of speaking, I inevitably and
spontaneously engaged in multiple and constant dialogic verbal exchanges between
me and the others: myself, my mentor, the authors of the texts, and the other people
around me. These exchanges were not always smooth; in fact, most were filled with
conflicts, doubts and inconsistencies. Subscribing to Bakhtin’s theory of language
as discourse, I make explicit that each phase of conducting and writing research is
essentially dialogic. Further, I illustrate how the dialogic dimension of the whole
research process is irremovable because capturing the multiple realities in a
qualitative research paradigm presupposes a dexterous and careful use of an
indispensable tool called language. Finally, I argue through my stories that
heightening my awareness of the potency of engaging in dialogue is crucial in my
attempts to legitimise my own voice and in my desire to occupy some intellectual
space in my chosen field.