There were a lot of “aha” moments for me during this workshop. I’ve never really thought about the ways that my lived experience informs the methodological & theoretical aspects of my work. I feel like this is such an empowering way to look at my work and show myself why I am the one who is able to do it.

After Nadine’s workshop, I felt confident that I could really “do academia.” If I were in Nadine’s shoes, I would not change anything about this workshop. I will continue to benefit from it from here onwards. I would *absolutely* recommend it to other faculty.

Before I participated in Nadine’s Liberate Your Research workshop, I was filled with trepidation about a challenging new project that seemed to be pulling me far afield in subject matter and totally outside my usual methods. I was filled with doubt and dread. During the workshop, that all changed: with Nadine’s great care and illuminating insight, I was able to gain clarity and ownership of the research project. I could see how it relates to my core beliefs, as well as my prior work. And, led by Nadine’s amazing guidance in embracing your own methodologies, I felt both relieved and empowered to see how my methodologies were both fitting and necessary. Nadine is an amazing facilitator and guide: her sensitivity, care, and generosity of spirit are truly inspirational.

I participated in your Liberate Your Research workshop with the Association of Feminist Anthropology. Since then, I’ve been on the job market for a tenure track position. I just signed the offer letter for my dream job and I truly feel like your workshop was invaluable to me in thinking through how to talk about my work during the job talk and interview process. I have an interdisciplinary background in public health, gender studies, and anthropology, and it can often be challenging to effectively communicate about my work to these different audiences. Your workshop gave me a helpful lens to cut through those differences and also helped me to feel connected to my own research at a time when I was really struggling to do so. Beyond that, it was incredibly validating to be around other people in the academy who were feeling similarly. I felt less alone after your workshop than I had in months.

Nadine’s coaching helped me acknowledge my power and stop giving it away to the harmful and toxic academic-industrial complex. Nadine helped me minimize my reaction to what others think about me by helping me learn to empower myself with what uplifts and nourishes me, to make the worries smaller, and remember why I do what I do. I miss my conversations with Nadine, but her words and what she taught me will forever shape my pedagogy and personal life. It was indeed a life-altering experience. There are not nearly enough people like Nadine who care and are willing to share their unique gift(s).

“Liberate Your Research” helped me understand how and why my research and research by other minoritized scholars is devalued by traditional academic structures – and how to proudly articulate the rigor, innovation, and worth of our work in the face of gatekeepers seeking to deny it.

As Program Chair for the Association of Feminist Anthropology, I helped to host Nadine in leading her Liberate Your Research Workshop for our membership. The hunger for this kind of gathering was immediately apparent in the number of enthusiastic applications we received. At the workshop, participants across different career stages connected through Nadine’s thoughtful prompts and activities, and at the end I was thrilled to hear the group share how much they had gained – including practical strategies, validation, and community care – from the event. We look forward to hosting Nadine again!

Nadine is incredibly skilled at helping scholars articulate what is unique and impactful about their projects. I ended Nadine’s workshop with a clear sense of where I am heading with my research and why it was necessary. This was a true gift!

Nadine’s workshop helped me articulate pragmatic and conceptual consequences of my work and was the first space I’ve ever been encouraged to claim and shape my own conceptual approach. The workshop coached me to realize where I get stuck and examine it as an interesting problem to explore in itself, rather than feeling “wrong” and censoring the creative energy that took me there. I felt reminded that my work is meaningful and needed–the workshop was a supportive session for sifting and winnowing, and I loved the community building of it all!

As the Director of the Social Justice major, I was interested in this workshop as our program is committed to de-imperializing the academy and following liberatory structures and supporting new faculty of color. But it is hard to describe what it is like to attend a workshop led by one of your academic heroes.  this liberating writing workshop helped me to more clearly name in my teaching and mentoring how these imperializing structures of the academic world have been creating ensuant anxieties for those of us working in the margins with radical methodologies. Nadine Naber’s excellent workshop encouraged scholars to conceptualize beyond their fields in order to further interrogate the imperialist ideologies within their frameworks. This struck a chord with me, since my training in postcolonial and cultural studies in the literature dept at Northwestern University felt incomplete without engaging in embodied practices.  Nadine Naber called on scholars to reclaim themselves from the tides of academic violations and isolation, and to collectively envision, especially for young scholars of color, those of us in the field who have their backs. Although the emotive grounding was in itself essential work, this layering of the movement from grounding—in the most solid terms of love into light—became a radical re-conception of academic practices. But it was just the start of liberating one’s work: the hands-on activities encouraged us to create liberating methodologies and creative conceptualizations rooted in critical heritage practices. Nadine Naber has offered not only thoughtful forums to ensure that our practices are part of liberating structures, but also clear statements of the critical problems. As my current book project crosses inter-disciplinary lines between cultural studies and digital activism, the ways that I have been naming these forms of agency needed more clarity.  As I have been struggling with how to radically conceptualize […]

Nadine’s “Liberate Your Research” workshop influenced me more than I could have imagined. She created an authentic and welcoming space, deftly guiding participants to connect with their research and each other. I have found myself thinking about, defining, and shaping my methodology in deeper and clearer ways. I’m charting my path in a way that finally feels authentic to who I am, what I know, and the contributions I hope to make.

Nadine’s  patience, creativity and compassion sparked many “fires” of writing possibilities and projects/opportunities for me. I am excited about writing after ages!

Nadine’s understanding and enactment of feminist pedagogy, while focused on the content, are truly inspirational and even heartwarming. Nadine’s presentation on self-healing along with the encouragement and insightful feedback for reconceptualizing the frameworks/lenses through which we think and write was freeing. It would be wonderful to refashion the academy to reflect such values. If only…! 

The Liberate Your Research Workshop was super helpful to me. I learned to take steps to overcome feeling overwhelmed and unqualified to conduct my research and I identified a name for my approach. Nadine’s work is critical for those of us marginalized by academia.