"Where is the love in my work?": Developing a restorative love praxis for ethical qualitative inquiry

Conventional research ethics, rooted in procedural compliance, often prove inadequate for the relational and political complexities of justice-oriented qualitative inquiry. This article challenges these limitations by introducing and developing the concept of 'Restorative Love Praxis', a feminist, decolonial framework that positions love not as a sentiment, but as a rigorous political commitment to justice. Grounded in Black and Global Majority feminist scholarship, the praxis is explained through four interconnected dimensions: Ethical Relationality, Reciprocal Care, Critical Reflexivity, and Collective Commitment. Drawing on the authors' doctoral research journeys: Participatory Action Research with racially minoritized domestic abuse survivors in the UK and ethnographic account of rape survivors and their families in India, the paper provides concrete examples of this praxis in action. The article first critiques procedural ethics frameworks, then develops the concept of Restorative Love Praxis, and finally illustrates its application through reflexive scenes from doctoral fieldwork. It illustrates how love, as an embodied method and praxis, guides research relationships, navigates institutional friction, and fosters accountability beyond extractive models. We argue that Restorative Love Praxis moves beyond 'do no harm' towards an active ethic of epistemic healing and reparative engagement. This framework offers a vital reorientation for researchers, positioning restorative love as the foundation of rigorous and transformative knowledge production.