While academic inquiry and research from the west/global north has been responsible for some of civilization's greatest achievements, it has also been a powerful tool of domination, oppression and erasure. This interdisciplinary graduate seminar seeks to explore non-normative research methodologies that are robust, ethical, and culturally informed to counter this history and to enhance our own comprehension and awareness. To begin, we will examine the types of questions asked, the assumptions that serve as foundations, the frameworks that structure the method of inquiry, and the values and power relations inherent in particular approaches. Working at both a theoretical and practical level, the seminar will train students to interrogate the ways that normative approaches to knowledge production - especially in Western contexts - contribute to a blunting of understanding and a silencing of already vulnerable communities. Drawing on in-class workshops, podcasts, art, film, global case studies, class visits from distinguished as well as promising young scholars, students will examine the underpinnings of cutting-edge methodological paradigms used throughout the world while gaining skills applicable to their own research inquiries/projects.