Suchergebnisse

Today's qualitative research may take place in complicated ethnographic fields, which situate researchers near difficult experiences at an individual, community, environmental or political level. The current academic climate frequently ignores the emotional impact of doing research under challenging circumstances. The overarching culture in higher education is one that carries taboos around 'what is' and 'what is not' expected from the researcher. The general expectation is for researchers to 'neutralize' themselves from the research topic rather than personally relate to it. Under the cultural belief of sustaining 'scholarly composure' the affective and emotional impact of fieldwork is often left on the margins of recognition. This paper explores the value of autoethnography as a creative-relational approach to promote spaces in which researchers feel safe enough to process fieldwork experiences through debriefing sessions. This is a courageous effort that calls for a transformative ethico-onto-epistemological shift in the academy. One that opens-up ways of 'knowing and being' that are not entirely about an outcome-based pursuit but about growth and change that materializes through relationality.

This is the first of two special issues on qualitative inquiry as activism. This first issue focuses upon activism and/in the academy (academic work, academic cultures, academic practices, etc.), the second on activism in the processes of research itself and activism beyond the academy, in the world. Two issues with different themes, but the overlaps and conversations between them are both obvious and significant: inquiry is part of, rooted in, the academy; inquiry and the academy are both of, and in, the world. Drawing upon the concept of the "infinite game" where, rather than being driven by the need to win and compete (the "finite game"), we argue for the collective, collaborative work of giving close, deep attention to the human, the nonhuman, and the more-than-human in order to "create and recreate our institutions," with activism key to this work.

This is the second of two part-issues on qualitative inquiry as activism. The first focused upon activism and/in the academy (academic work, academic cultures, academic practices, etc.), and this second focuses upon activism in the processes of research itself and activism beyond the academy, in the world. Drawing upon Butler's claim that we are always already, from the outset, 'given over' to the human, non-human and more-than-human other, we argue for qualitative research to do what it can to make the future different, better, more ethical.