Challenging Narratives: Creative Methodologies for Social Research

The pursuit of social justice often requires creative and innovative approaches to challenge hegemonic cultural narratives. Traditional forms of research in the social sciences have been criticised for minimising or ignoring the voices of the least powerful in society.

Academic institutions continue to demonstrate resistance toward non-conventional methodological approaches, despite substantial evidence of their capacity to generate novel theoretical insights and facilitate meaningful engagement with historically excluded populations. As a consequence, academic research has considerable influence in maintaining the status quo of privilege and power for the relative minority and normalising structural and symbolic violences that ‘other’ and oppress those who challenge or exist outside hegemonic frameworks.

The proposed edited volume, Challenging Narratives: Creative Methodologies for Social Justice Research, aims to critically examine and showcase innovative research methodologies that have been strategically deployed in the service of social justice objectives. This collection will foreground methodological approaches that actively contest dominant and oppressive cultural narratives while simultaneously addressing contentious and politically charged discourses that traditional research paradigms have failed to adequately theorise or investigate.

We welcome international submissions from all social science disciplines, including criminology, history, politics, and sociology. ‘Innovation in methodologies’ may be interpreted as innovation in parts of the research process such as recruitment or data collection or as a more holistic approach. Methodologies can be qualitative, quantitative, or mixed. The narratives that are challenged can be mainstream and well known or niche and culturally specific to the location in which the research is conducted.

Abstracts must include:

• A clear description of the ‘Challenging Narrative’
• The need and rationale for change that is addressed by the research
• The innovation in methodology
• Successes and/or challenges
• Potential for the methodology to be used in other contexts.

We would like to ensure that the collection reflects as much diversity in authorship as possible so please also submit a short biography (no more than 250) that includes any demographic information you feel comfortable sharing e.g. first language, gender, race, ethinicity, sexuality, and other protected characteristics as well as your career stage. The biographies will be deleted once the short listing of abstracts has taken place and will not be included in the publication.

Unfortunately, we can only accept abstracts written in English at this time.

Call for contributions

We particularly welcome submissions from:

• Early career researchers, including doctoral candidates in advanced stages of dissertation completion
• Indigenous scholars and community-based researchers
• Scholars from the Global South and post-colonial contexts
• Academics of colour and those from historically marginalized communities

How to submit

Due: 31st January 2026

Wordcount: Abstract: 300 Words

Biography: 250 words maximum

Submit your abstract and biography by e-mail to Challenging_Narratives(at)outlook.com

Further details on the peer review process and submission will be provided for those accepted, but the deadline for draft chapters will be June 2026 and final drafts 8000-word chapters will be required by January 2027. Final acceptance will be subject to passing the usual peer review process.

If you have any questions prior to submitting an abstract for consideration please contact the editors:

Dr Katy Proctor (she/her) katy.proctor(at)gcu.ac.uk

Dr Tahaney Alghrani Tahaney.alghrani(at)hughbaird.ac.uk

Call for Papers (Link)