Work/Think/Play/Birth/Death/Terror/Qualitative/Research

Abstract

Inspired by work/think/play in qualitative research, we centered the idea of “play” in a qualitative research project to explore what proceeding from the idea of work/think/play might look like and accomplish. We pursued play in an experimental qualitative inquiry over dinner one night at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Our article centers on one work/think/play inquiry three of us conducted. Through a playful account of how play unfolded in our work/think/play inquiry that evening, we explore research play as generative, deadly, and censored in the context of neoliberalism and other terrors. We reflect on what (good) play does in qualitative research, what our work/think/play/birth/death/terror/qualitative/research accomplished, if anything. Maybe research play is vital, what keeps us fit to do critical qualitative research. Yet research play moves (well) beyond normative rules of much qualitative research. Is it worth the risk? Can we know? Even after?

Methodologies for the Apocalypse: Unthinking the Thinkable

“…In our work, we have experimented with presence and different apocalyptic conditions including work-think-play, forest experiment, and conference autopsy. For example, once we explored research play as generative, deadly, and censored in the context of neoliberalism and other terrors, qualitative research and writing (Wolgemuth et al, 2018). Our practices of present play included our experiences and chaotic momentary experiencing, theory, language and meaning, context and materials, writing and format, reader, and subjects.…”

Feeling Medusa: Tentacular Troubling of Academic Positionality, Recognition and Respectability

“…Our string figurings play re/figure our ontological position(ing)s as we talk, Skype, and write, each relational event producing capacities to ponder and play with our heavy and thick positionalities as differentially positioned academics by attending to the differentiations produced by our bodily positioning in the room, faces, walls, curtain, lights, sounds (see Moment: Tentacular-ed us). String figuring in materialist mode of playing-working-thinking (Hughes et al, 2018, Wolgemuth et al, 2018 provokes thinking-feeling which troubles normative positionalities.…”