Where are the storytellers? A quest to (re)enchant geography through writing as method

Abstract

The standardization of writing styles and formats and the use of jargon in the social sciences have had considerable consequences on the quality of academic work. Due to the emphasis on method, theory, and empirical rigor, creativity, personal narrative, and storytelling no longer play a large role in academic writing. Addressing the growing concern for researchers losing their sense of self, the suppression of emotional reflection, the inaccessibility of jargon-filled work to the public, and the overall deterioration of writing quality, this paper argues for a renewed focus on teaching writing as a foundational qualitative method in the social sciences. Using creative writing examples by students from a graduate course in landscape geography, I suggest strategies for teaching, practicing, and reflecting on writing as method. Addressing the significance of creative and reflective writing earlier on in higher education will help young academics foster their own narrative voices, and will ultimately contribute to more interesting, accessible, and affective research that (re)enchants geography and other fields in the social sciences.

Double-blind multiple peer reviews to change students’ reading behaviour and help them develop their writing skills

“…We may therefore, unintentionally, have emphasised structure, grammar, and reference techniques above academic content, because many of the students seemed to have been focusing most on these aspects when providing feedback. We do not know whether this may also have hampered their writing process, but there are critical approaches that argue that traditional formats for term papers (introduction, theory, methods, results, discussion, conclusion) have limited students' abilities to develop a more personal narrative style and develop themselves as successful writers (see for example, Burlingame, 2019;DeLyser, 2010).…”

Learning by feeling: excursions into the affective landscape

“…A study by Melvin Shaw (1994), for example, uncovered the broad range of scientists' emotional reflections on the research process that are most often left out of the writing process. Without an outlet to express their joys, frustrations, and curiosities, researchers tend to fall back on a standardized style of academic writing, stripped of any individualism behind the words (Burlingame, 2019b;Cloke et al, 2004). This has subsequently affected the ability of research in geography to reach out to other disciplines and audiences beyond academia.…”

“…Others have used phenomenology to explore the complexities in, for example, belonging (Tolia-Kelly, 2007), memory (Lorimer, 2014;Tolia-Kelly, 2013;Wylie, 2009), and affective, embodied encounters (Burlingame, 2019a;Tilley, 1994). Such research has also given way to new methods such as participatory drawing or photography (Ryan, 2012;Tolia-Kelly, 2007 as well as creative styles of writing (Burlingame, 2019b;Jones, 2005;Lorimer & Parr, 2014;Shepherd et al, 2020;Wylie, 2005).…”

“…Though these approaches indicate both scholarly value and academic rigor, there continues to be a reluctance (and sometimes resistance) in the wider academic community to reach out beyond traditional academic structures and styles of research and writing (Askins, 2009). Sometimes referred to as dull, mechanical, and inaccessible (Burlingame, 2019b;DeLyser, 2010;Elwood, 2010;Tierney, 2002), these styles are characterized by a dehumanized, or disenchanted (Woodyer & Geoghegan, 2013), subject "cloaked behind a veil of claimed objectivity" (Cloke et al, 2004, p. 24). Since affective and emotional approaches are placed at the intersections between creative, reflective, and critical engagement, it can be difficult and even daunting to bring the feeling subject out of the shadows.…”

The Last Hurrah (and The Long Haul): co-creation of theatre as climate change education

“…Storytelling, meanwhile, is championed by Burlingame (2019) as way to "re-enchant" geographic writing, in order to "help close the distance between ourselves and the work we do so we are able to connect to larger narratives and thereby a wider readership" (p.69).…”