This work has not been peer reviewed by the University of the Philippines Rainbow Research Hub or its project members. The views expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Hub or its project members.
2026 Philippine Queer Studies Conference
POSTER PRESENTATION
Slow research as epistemic justice: Implications for transgender health justice in the Philippines
Luis Emmanuel A. Abesamis
Research novelty and productivity are systematically privileged over community engagement, impact, and responsiveness. This, I argue, cultivates and reinforces epistemic injustice through practices and approaches that substantially harm marginalized communities and the scholarly endeavors that engage with, center, and are co-produced by them. In response to the impact of colonial and capitalist structures on research, scholars have the responsibility to actively and intentionally contend with normalized knowledge cultures and practices that may contribute to epistemic injustice, structural and representational violence, and social inequities at large. Drawing from years of research on transgender health in the Philippines, I articulate how “slow research,” as proposed by Adams and their colleagues (2014), can be leveraged as a critical approach for community engaged scholars. I specifically draw attention to and contextualize five strategies—local as method; passé approaches; ethnographic pauses; inefficient data; and fluid engagement—to illustrate how slow research practices can effectively counter epistemic injustice and further facilitate health justice and social equity in the Philippines. Although the implications of slow approaches to ethnographic research have previously been outlined (see Grandia, 2015), the slow approach has yet to be problematized vis-à-vis health social science research on transgender and gender diverse communities who have long been subjected to ethnographic research that “pathologize, exoticize, and objectify gender variance” (Valentine, 2003, p. 38). By and large, this article offers points of action and accountability that are “grounded in critiques of asymmetries of power…pushes methodological creativity in new directions…and [interrogates] strategies of representation” (Ortner, 2019) in health social science research with transgender communities.
