When Research "Unravels": One Community Psychologist's Tale of Becoming a Nepantlera

This is an autoethnography of one community psychologist's reflections on the abrupt conclusion of a project that resulted in the dismantlement of a Latinx Student Union at a public middle school in the Pacific Northwest. Gloria Anzaldúa's (Borderlands/La Frontera: The new mestiza, Aunt Lute Books, San Francisco, 2002) notion of nepantla is used to situate how an individual's personal identities often intersects with their professional identities in ways that collide within the research environment. Drawing on the "heart work" core competencies within the field of community psychology (The Community Psychologist, 45, 2012, 8; American Journal of Community Psychology, 55, 2015, 266) and extending the dialogue of feminist community psychologists engaged in narrative work (American Journal of Community Psychology, 37, 2006, 157; American Journal of Community Psychology, 37, 2006, 267; Feminist research practice: A primer, Sage, Los Angeles, 2014; American Journal of Community Psychology, 28, 2000, 883), the author addresses why it is important for researchers of Color engaged in community collaborations to reflect on projects that have unraveled to understand how their positionality shifts within social contexts.