Entering an ambiguous space: evoking polyvocality in educational research through collective poetic inquiry
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Date
2014
Authors
Pithouse-Morgan, Kathleen
Naicker, Inbanathan
Chikoko, Vitallis
Pillay, Daisy
Morojele, Pholoho
Hlao, Teboho
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Education, University of the Free State
Abstract
We explore how the participatory, literary arts-based methodology of collective
poetic inquiry can facilitate awareness of, and insight into polyvocality in educational
research. Using found poetry and haiku poetry, we present a poetic performance in
which we engage with diverse voices that manifest in multiple data sources: a student
participant’s photographic collage and unstructured interview transcript; audiorecorded
discussions with research team members and a conference audience, and
research team members’ written reflections. We aim to contribute to methodological
conversations about poetry as research, with a particular focus on understanding
more about the potential of collective poetic inquiry for evoking polyvocality in
educational research. Drawing on notions of ‘un-knowing’, ‘not-knowing’ and
‘productive ambiguity’, we conceptualise our participatory research process as
polyvocal and invite readers to join us in considering how cultivating polyvocality
in educational research might bring about change in ourselves and in our ways of knowing as members of research communities. The article highlights our evolving
understanding that how we research shapes and reshapes what we come to know
and un-know and how we communicate that knowing.
Description
Keywords
Collective poetic inquiry, Literary arts-based methodologies, Participatory research, Performativity, Polyvocality, Productive ambiguity
Citation
Pithouse-Morgan, K., Naicker, I., Chikoko, V., Pillay, D., Morojele, P., & Hlao, T. (2014). Entering an ambiguous space: evoking polyvocality in educational research through collective poetic inquiry. Perspectives in Education, 32(4), 149-170.