1st Edition

Qualitative Inquiry at a Crossroads Political, Performative, and Methodological Reflections

Edited By Norman K. Denzin, Michael D. Giardina Copyright 2019
    214 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    214 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Qualitative Inquiry at a Crossroads critically reflects on the ever-changing dynamics of qualitative research in the contemporary moment. We live at a crossroads in which the spaces for critical civic discourse are narrowing, in which traditional political ideologies are now questioned: there is no utopian vision on the horizon, only fear and doubt. The moral and ethical foundations of democracy are under assault, global inequality is on the rise, facts are derided as ‘fake news’—an uncertain future stands at our door. 

    Premised on the belief that our troubled times call for a critical inquiry that matters—a discourse committed to a politics of resistance, a politics of possibility—leading international contributors from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Norway, and Denmark present a range of perspectives, challenges, and opportunities for the field. In so doing, they wrestle with questions concerning the intersecting vectors of method, politics, and praxis. More specifically, contributors engage with issues ranging from indigenous and decolonizing methods, arts-based research, and intersectionality to debates over the research marketplace, accountability metrics, and emergent forays into post-qualitative inquiry. 

    Introduction

    Norman K. Denzin and Michael D. Giardina

    Part I: Performative Reflections

    Chapter 1. Between Bodies: Queer Grief in the Anthropocene

    Anne Harris and Stacy Holman Jones

    Chapter 2. "I Want the World to See": Black Feminist Performance Auto/Ethnography

    Wilson Okello

    Chapter 3. Canvassing the Body: A Radical Relationality of Art, Body, and Vibrant Materiality

    Tami Spry

    Chapter 4. Intersectionality in Education Research: Methodology as Critical Inquiry and Praxis

    Venus Evans-Winters and Jennifer Esposito

    Part II: Philosophical Inflections

    Chapter 5. Voice in the Agentic Assemblage

    Lisa A. Mazzei and Alecia Youngblood Jackson

    Chapter 6. Wondering in The Dark: The Generative Power of Unknowing in the Arts and In Qualitative Inquiry

    Liora Bresler

    Chapter 7. Virtuous Inquiry, Refusal, and Cynical Work

    Aaron M. Kuntz

    Chapter 8. Theorizing from the Streets: De/colonizing, Contemplative, and Creative Approaches in Consideration of Quality in Arts-Based Qualitative Research

    Kakali Bhattacharya

    Chapter 9. Stay Human: Can We Be Human After Posthumanism

    Svend Brinkmann

    Section III: Political Interventions

    Chapter 10. Resisting the Commodified Researcher Self: Interrogating the Data Doubles We Create for Ourselves when Buying and Selling Our Research Products in the Research Marketplace

    Julianne Cheek

    Chapter 11. Contesting Accountability Metrics in Troubled Times Through Communicative Methodology

    Aitor Gómez González

    Chapter 12. Seduction and Desire: The Power of Spectacle

    Bronwyn Davies

    Chapter 13. Stitching Tattered Cloth: Reflections on Social Justice and Qualitative Inquiry in Turbulent Times

    Karen M. Staller

    Notes on Contributors

    Biography

    Norman K. Denzin (PhD, University of Iowa) is Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Communications, College of Communications Scholar, and Research Professor of Communications, Sociology, and Humanities at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. One of the world’s foremost authorities on qualitative research and cultural criticism, Denzin is the author or editor of more than two dozen books. He is co-editor (with Yvonna S Lincoln) of the methods journal Qualitative Inquiry, founding editor of Cultural Studiesó Critical Methodologies and International Review of Qualitative Research, editor of three book series, and founding director of the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry.

    Michael D. Giardina (PhD, University of Illinois) is Professor of Media, Politics, and Physical Culture, and Associate Chair of the Department of Sport Management, at Florida State University. He is the author or editor of 20 books. He is editor of the Sociology of Sport Journal, special issues editor of Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies, and assistant director of the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry.

    This is an outstanding book that provides a much-needed series of critical reflections on qualitative research at a time when critical civic discourses are narrowing and what counts as scholarship is increasingly under attack. It asks vital questions about the qualitative work we do, the way in which we do it, and the conditions under which that work exists. Embracing the cry for social justice, the book is also an important call for action. Qualitative Inquiry at a Crossroads is a gem that deserves to be read widely.

    Brett Smith, University of Birmingham, UK

    Qualitative Inquiry again comes at a new crossroad. The annual International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry is an important forum for reflecting, critically discussing, and developing the practice of qualitative inquiry. Political, scientific, and methodological challenges are starting points for its stimulating debates. This book presents a collection of highlight papers from the 14th. International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry written by some of the leading international researchers in the field. They locate qualitative inquiry in its development over time for setting its agenda in troubled times which define the current crossroad to face.

    Uwe Flick, Professor of Qualitative Social and Educational Research, Department of Psychology and Education, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany