A Critical Response to Sara Scott's ‘Here be Dragons: Researching the Unbelievable, Hearing the Unthinkable. A Feminist Sociologist in Uncharted Territory’

1999 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie Huntington
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Critical Response ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
Academic Discourses

This paper offers a critique of Sara Scott's recent work, which provided an account of the research process as the author documents and analyses the experiences of survivors of organised sadistic abuse. [1] More specifically, it responds to Scott's assertion that acceptance of a ‘subtle’ realist epistemological stance offers an adequate base from which to make ‘truth’ claims. The difficulties around defining and defending the truth status of individuals’ accounts, in an emotionally charged context, are truncated within this framework. The ongoing struggle to work with the complexity of academic discourses, without denying the lived experiences of individuals, requires us to struggle with the tensions and contradictions even as we seek to make judgements about ‘truth’ claims that are inevitably socially constructed, situated and specific.

Feminist Research Methodologies — A Separate Paradigm? Notes for a Debate

1993 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronit Lentin
Keyword(s):  
Women's Studies ◽  
Gender Relations ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Holocaust Survivors ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Feminist Research ◽  
Research Methodologies ◽  
Methodological Choices ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
And Gender

This paper has three central components. One, it examines the basic tenets of feminist research methodologies — the commitment to making visible women's lived experiences, to gender and gender relations as socially constructed and historicially specific, to reflexivity and the inclusion of the researcher and the research process as researchable topics, and to the emancipation of women —and argues that they constitute feminist research methodologies as a separate paradigm. Two, by describing the methodological choices made for my study of Israeli daughters of Holocaust survivors, it examines the discontents of feminist research methodologies and how we can address them. Three, by asking why so few published studies by Irish feminist sociologists and Women's Studies scholars have adhered to feminist research methodologies, it hopes to launch a debate about feminist research methodologies in Ireland.

English as Eastern: Zhuang, Mongolian, Mandarin, and English in the linguistic orders of globalized China

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (271) ◽  
pp. 35-64
Author(s):  
Alexandra Grey ◽  
Gegentuul Baioud
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
Academic Discourses ◽  
East West

Abstract Socially constructed and globally propagated East-West binaries have influenced language ideologies about English in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), but they are not hegemonic. This essay explores how East-West language ideologies are reformed in mergers with Mandarin-minority language ideologies. It discusses two separate but similar recent studies of minority language speakers and language ideologies in the PRC, respectively by Grey and Baioud. Each study reveals aspects of how Mandarin and English are being socially constructed as on the same side of a dichotomous and hierarchic linguistic and social order, in contradistinction to minority languages. The essay thus problematizes the construction of English as a Western language and Mandarin as an Eastern language; both in academic discourses and in wider social and political discourses. The essay uses Asif Agha’s theory of “enregisterment” to unify the points drawn from each study. It concludes that the language ideologies and practices/discourses under examination reproduce the displacement of a subaltern status; we describe this process as dynamic, internal Orientalism and “recursive” Orientalism, drawing on foundational theory of language ideologies. This essay paves the way for further studies of recursive Orientalism.

Damaged, Deficient or Determined? Deconstructing Narratives in Family Therapy

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 123-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Kottler ◽  
Judith Soal
Keyword(s):  
Family Therapy ◽  
South African ◽  
Analytic Approach ◽  
Narrative Approach ◽  
Family Unit ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Family ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
Dominant Narratives ◽  
Objective Existence

This study attempts to challenge the prevailing understanding of family problems within the field of family therapy. Drawing on post-structuralist approaches to knowledge, truth and power, we suggest that the problems experienced by the families cannot be seen to have an objective existence, or to be internal to the ‘family unit’. Rather, the problem-saturated narratives presented by families are shaped by an investment in socially constructed knowledges which ascribe meaning to experience. A discourse analytic approach is used to explore the dominant narratives of a coloured South African family presenting for family therapy. Discourses of civilization, ideal mothers and families, and therapy are considered to have informed these narratives. An analysis of the implications of these discursive investments, and the contradictions within and between these discourses, is conducted. This analysis suggests the manner in which this family is subjugated and rendered damaged and deficient through an aspiration to unobtainable and contradictory ideals. The study also examines the way in which the truth claims of these discourses are challenged by a therapist adopting a narrative approach to family therapy.

Blurring boundaries: An emotionally aware caregiver, social worker, and researcher

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 682-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Camacho
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Emotional Awareness ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Clinical Social Worker ◽  
Clinical Social Workers ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Impact

In this article, I illustrate lived experiences within my roles as caregiver, clinical social worker, and researcher. Empirical attention has focused on the emotional toll of caregiving and management of emotions as clinical social workers, however, little attention has been given to the impact emotions have on the researcher and how emotional awareness can be useful in the creation of knowledge. Using a personal reflexive account, I “out” myself as an emotionally aware caregiver, clinical social worker, and researcher. Finally, I provide examples of how to incorporate emotion into the research process.

scholarly journals Behind the scenes: reflecting on cross-gender interview dynamics in Mexico City

1970 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Rios Sandoval
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Mexico City ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Entry Point ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
Fundamental Part ◽  
Formative Experience ◽  
Depth Interviews

During the summer of 2007 I set out on a qualitative exploratory study in Mexico City that later became a masters dissertation. The study was focused on conversations with a group of men about everyday practices, expectations, ideas and feelings related to parenting, and this was an entry point into exploring constructions of fatherhood and masculinity. As I stumbled through my first in-depth interviews I felt excited, thrilled and touched, but also uneasy, overwhelmed and undeniably puzzled by a whole range of dilemmas that appeared to emerge every time I so much as stopped to think about the course of my research. The six weeks of fieldwork were a truly formative experience. An experience that made me reflect for long hours about the ethics and politics of the research process. I came to recognise that ultimately, the picture of fatherhood drawn in my study was to a certain extent negotiated with the participants, shaped by our interaction and informed by personal backgrounds, expectations, emotions and lived experiences. I believe that reflecting on this aspect of the ethnographic encounter along with communicating those reflections constitute a fundamental part of the learning exercise. The latter is precisely the purpose of the present article: communicating such reflections.

scholarly journals Through Their Lens: Using Visual Methods to Illuminate the Lived Experiences of Diverse Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 727-727
Author(s):  
Jarmin Yeh ◽  
Tam Perry
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Qualitative Research ◽  
New Jersey ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Civic Participation ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Photo Elicitation ◽  
Visual Methods

Abstract Visual methods, like photovoice and photo-elicitation, have attracted modest attention in gerontological inquiry with diverse and vulnerable community-dwelling older adults. Visual methods are based on the idea of inserting images, produced by informants or not, into research interviews, allowing informants to be the experts of knowledge and meaning-making while the researcher becomes the student. The empowerment of informants as subject-collaborators in the research process is a distinctive feature of visual methods. Benefits include revealing unique insights into diverse phenomena by evoking elements of human consciousness, feelings, and memories that words may not easily express and surveys may not easily capture. This symposium presents qualitative research using visual methods to illuminate the lived experiences, voices, and perspectives of diverse and vulnerable older adults living in New Jersey, Connecticut, and California. Reyes’ research critiques how the operationalization of mainstream notions of civic participation becomes exclusionary and provides a more inclusive understanding of how civic participation is enacted and performed through the practices of Latinx and African American older adults living in New Jersey. Versey’s research with homeless older adults subverts the attention often focused within cities by interrogating the meaning of place with informants whose needs and desires are often overlooked or obscured by residing in a small, rural town in central Connecticut. Yeh’s research on aging in place inequalities chronicles the everyday lives of housed and unhoused older San Franciscans to reveal their tactics for negotiating a moving tension between the daily interiority of identity and contingencies of a changing environment. Qualitative Research Interest Group Sponsored Symposium.

scholarly journals Living habits affecting subsequent gastrointestinal cancer surgery: An interpretative phenomenological interview study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Blomquist ◽  
Carina Wennerholm ◽  
Carina Berterö ◽  
Per Sandström ◽  
Bergthor Björnsson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Gastrointestinal Cancer ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Cancer Surgery ◽  
University Hospital ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Motivation Level ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Purpose There is limited in-depth understanding of patients’ views and experiences with physical training, nutritional care, psychological support, and smoking/alcohol cessation prior to gastrointestinal cancer surgery. Therefore, patients' thoughts and influences regarding prehabilitation components are of interest in the effort to provide optimal supportive cancer care and to improve health. The aim of this study was to explore patients’ thoughts, lived experiences and influences regarding their living habits prior to gastrointestinal cancer surgery. Methods The participants in this qualitative study were recruited from a university hospital in southeast Sweden. In total, six in-depth digital interviews were held from November 2020 to March 2021. An interpretative phenomenological analysis approach was used throughout the research process. Results The interpretative analysis identified three themes: the influence of the cancer diagnosis on awareness and motivation, life circumstances affecting living habits and activities bringing mental strength. The main findings deepen the current understanding of the situation that patients face when committing to presurgical preparation plans. The participants expressed the impact of their motivation level and circumstances in life. Physical and mental health was promoted by various types of activities and support. Conclusion Motivation level and circumstances in life both influence living habits. Patients’ physical and mental health is promoted by various types of activities and support. Health care professionals need to investigate patients’ lived experiences when developing person-centred support to achieve health-promoting behaviour prior to cancer surgery.

A dramatic collage: becoming pedagogical through collaborative playbuilding

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-414
Author(s):  
Abigail Shabtay ◽  
Mindy R. Carter ◽  
Hala Mreiwed
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Theatrical Production ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Creation ◽  
And Performance

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore a case study of a group of preservice teachers that took part in a playbuilding process as part of a drama education course at a Canadian University. The paper focusses on ten preservice teachers’ creation in original theatrical production,The Teacher Diaries: a collage of stories based on the preservice teachers’ lived experiences as teacher candidates. Through a discussion of the playbuilding process, the techniques used, and an analysis of three scenes, this paper addresses the question: How can playbuilding and performance help preservice teachers “become pedagogical”?Design/methodology/approachThe paper focusses on ten preservice teachers’ creation in original theatrical production,The Teacher Diaries: a collage of stories based on the preservice teachers’ lived experiences as teacher candidates. Through a discussion of the playbuilding process, the techniques used, and an analysis of three scenes, this paper addresses the question: How can playbuilding and performance help preservice teachers “become pedagogical”?FindingsThe primary understanding that emerged from this research was how playbuilding can be used as a holistic participatory research method in which participants conduct research, analyse, thematise, implement and disseminate data throughout the creative process.Research limitations/implicationsAs researchers of this playbuilding process, the authors have come to realise that when using playbuilding as a method for research and arts creation there is an overlapping of understanding and analysis of the research findings that is a continual part of the research process. Rather than simply collecting data, analysing it and drawing conclusions from the previously identified data, the whole process becomes a research experience. As seen above, participants were continually coming up with insights throughout the process that informed the creation, growth and change of their scenes so that they could create a final product.Practical implicationsDrawing on a case study of ten preservice teachers, and their original performance pieceThe Teacher Diaries, this paper set out to determine how the playbuilding process can be used to help preservice teachers develop pedagogically. Several scholars have already noted that creating collaborative theatre is a reflective, inquiry-based process (Belliveau, 2006; Cahill, 2006; Carteret al., 2011; Conrad, 2004; Goldstein, 2008), and that the creation and performance of live theatre allows participants to interact with audiences in ways that written material cannot (Norris, 2000, 2008).Social implicationsThroughout the playbuilding process, the preservice teachers engaged in storytelling, improvisation, reflection and dialogue. Working collaboratively, the preservice teachers were able to identify similarities in their experiences and develop a supportive community where they could share stories and resources (see Mreiwedet al., 2017 for more discussion of community development through drama).Originality/valueBecause of this, the members of Team Awesome were inspired to create a pamphlet (including tips and links to government and other online resources) to share with their peers following the performance. While this was simply one case study, the results of this study indicate that the playbuilding process has great potential for use in helping educators “become pedagogical” through collaboration, reflection, articulation of needs, community-building and the sharing of resources in preservice teacher education.

Female spouses lived experiences of living with a husband with dementia: a qualitative study on changes in everyday life

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Egilstrød ◽  
Kirsten Schultz Petersen
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Health Care Service ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
The People ◽  
Female Spouses

Purpose The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of female spouses’ lived experiences of changes in everyday life while living with a husband with dementia. Design/methodology/approach Nine individual interviews of female spouses were conducted in 2017. A phenomenological narrative approach was applied during data collection, and the analysis was inspired by Amedeo Giorgi’s analytic steps. Findings Female spouses experienced changes in their marital relationships, and found ways of managing these changes, although they realized life was marked by loneliness and distress. The identified themes reveal how female spouses experienced changes in everyday life as the disease progressed. Everyday routines gradually changed and they actively sought ways to uphold everyday life and a marital relationship. Research limitations/implications Research should focus on developing supportive interventions, where the people with the lived experiences in relation to dementia are involved in the research process, to better target the needs for support, when developing interventions. Practical implications Insight into everyday life can help health-care service providers to better the support to female spouses and contribute with more individualized support, which may contribute to the quality of care. Originality/value In this study, the authors disclose the envisible and silent work that takes place in an everyday life, when living with a husband with dementia during the time span of caregiving. Spouses’ experiences are important to include, when developing intervention to support spouses to better tailor the interventions.

Organizational archives and historical narratives

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 280-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amon Barros ◽  
Adéle de Toledo Carneiro ◽  
Sergio Wanderley
Keyword(s):  
Research Process ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Contextual Understanding ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Multiple Characteristics

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the role of reflexivity in relation to archives and narratives. Design/methodology/approach The authors problematize the concept of “archive,” by engaging with debates in philosophy and the archival theory. The authors also revisit historical theories and debates on the role of the narrative within historiography. Finally, the authors consider reflexivity as a methodological attitude taken by the researcher at all stages of the investigation from challenging theoretical assumptions of empirical materials to questioning the very narrative that is created when looking for alternative ones. Findings This paper poses questions about documents and archives that emerge from reflexivity. The authors claim that reflexivity is an ethos that allows researchers to keep the multiple narratives in which they are entangled in check. The paper brings a framework that allows researchers to use reflexivity to become more conscious of the complexities and ambiguities within the research process that leads to the writing of historical narratives. Research limitations/implications This paper points to the need to enhance the reflexivity at every stage of the research, including “interrogating” the archives and documents, which are compiled under a narrative. Practical implications The authors highlighted the multiple characteristics of archives, their meanings and the possibilities of writing narratives about them through reflexivity. The authors have the historical narrative as one possible reconstruction of a historical object, which is connected to the production conditions of the text. Through reflexivity, the authors discussed the socially constructed nature of the documents and the archives. Finally, the authors believe that debates around the production of this knowledge should continue, focusing especially on building bridges with the field of history. Social implications Historical narratives do not depend on the scientific character of historical sources, but it considers reflexivity by the researcher regarding the search, collection, reading and analysis of historical documents. In addition, it is necessary to think about the use of documents and archives and histories in a reflective way for a writing of history and, indirectly, for a contextual understanding of the time observed and as forged sources – or discarded – and made available. Originality/value Challenging the use of documents and archives in a reflexive way for the writing of historical narratives and for contextual understanding of the past is key to a richer relationship between management and history. This paper points to the role of reflexivity in relation to archives and narratives in the practice of (re)constructing the organizational past from memories and silences. It also highlights how reflexivity can be incorporated in the research process to enrich the writing of the historical narrative.

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