The Albany Birth Justice Storytelling Project: Integrating Feminist Pedagogy into Research Design

Birth justice is a vibrant, national movement in the United States, which has motivated synergistic action at the local level. This article discusses a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project in Albany, New York with a significant feminist pedagogical component. The Albany Birth Justice Storytelling project formed through collaboration between a community birth justice organization and the University at Albany. Inspired by a combined focus on birth and research justice approaches, we adapted photo-voice and transformative storytelling to co-create qualitative data in the form of a video narrative on local experiences of “birthing while Black.” Our stories echo themes documented by birth justice scholar-activists elsewhere in the country including racism within clinical settings. The research promoted self-reflective, trauma-informed education and care among co-researchers including University at Albany students and storytellers from Albany County. Feminist pedagogy contributed to two goals of CBPR: equalizing power differentials and enhancing mutual learning between university and community.