Thinking Silence Otherwise: Toward a “Research Other” in Qualitative Research

Why ask about silence when it comes to research? This paper explores and analyzes how silence, unlike words and verbal expression, has received little attention in the data production process. Despite its different manifestations and meanings in social interactions and knowledge production, silence tends to be overlooked, ignored, or silenced. We focus on analyzing how we relate silence to evidence-based research to describe the “non-places” of silence in qualitative research, addressing controversies and issues. We propose a “research other,” grounded in decolonial approaches and Southern and feminist epistemologies, to argue for the inclusion of silence in the research process. Silence is presented as a tool for epistemic justice and as a pathway toward research practices grounded in a situated ethics of care. This “research other” requires a rupture with established research logics, advocating the disruption of productivist, classificatory, and monocultural knowledge systems. The work provides considerations and strategies to support this approach. While silence in alternative research poses limitations and challenges, researchers must remain attentive to them to avoid dismissing this other way of conducting research aimed at social justice.