We are delighted to announce that the winner of the 2025-26 Joan Eakin Award for Methodological Excellence in a Qualitative Doctoral Dissertation is Dr. Tola Mbulaheni, for her dissertation titled, Black Women’s Experiences of Structural Racism in Accessing HIV Services in Toronto: A Critical Race Narrative Inquiry.
The award committee had the following to say about Dr. Mbulaheni’s dissertation:
The Committee found Dr. Mbulaheni’s choice to develop and use a “critical race narrative methodology”, in place of either critical race theory (CRT) or narrative approaches, to be innovative and compelling. We also appreciated the detail in which the writer described the stages of critical race narrative analysis, which we found to be a good introduction for people who are new to narrative analysis. For example, they outlined the different phases of their approach, working through different types of memoing, such as reflexive coding, and constructing master and counter narratives in a way that went far beyond the development of themes. The discussion of counter-narrative as a way to highlight the strengths and resilience of Black Women with HIV was very strong. We also appreciated how counter-storytelling was treated not only as a data feature, but as medium, method, and praxis.
Overall, the committee found Dr. Mbulaheni’s thesis to be well written and demonstrated a level of nuance and critical thinking, combined with attention to theoretical/conceptual detail (such as attention to language), that was striking. We also appreciated the many footnotes they provided. It invited the reader to want to know more about their approach, in particular, wanting to understand the impact of positionality and reflexivity on the research process.
Dr. Mbulaheni is currently at the Office of the Chief Coroner, University of Toronto. She will be presenting her award-winning work in an upcoming CQ seminar in Fall 2026.
Congratulations Dr. Mbulaheni!
References:
Bridges, K. M. (2019). Critical race theory: A primer. Foundation Press.
Collins, D. R., & Cannella, G. S. (2021). Racisms in qualitative inquiry: Recognitions and challenges. Qualitative Inquiry, 27(10), 1139-1145.
McKittrick, K. (2021). Dear science and other stories. Duke University Press.
