Narrative Inquiry and Ethnography

BAPP acknowledges that ‘I’ am in the situation through the qualitative nature of the methods you are encouraged to use, such as Ethnography. Ethnography acknowledges a place for the ‘I’ in research. Narrative inquiry acknowledges the problem that you encounter when trying to inquiry using ethnography as you attempt to represent and communicate your embodied experience. 

The BAPP course encourages you to use of ethnography and narrative inquiry. This originates in an interest in better understanding the conditions of experience or embodied experience. Ethnography and narrative inquiry are used to acknowledge attempts to communicate across the isolation and immediacy of empirical agency (feeling). How to explain your feeling and thoughts? 

Ethnography and the narrative turn also allows your essay (for example) to acknowledge the Reader who similarly plays a role in the translation of meaning having their own continuity of experiences as they interact with the activity of the reading of your work. In other words, ‘you’ are writing to someone about what you think. 

However, neither ‘ethnography’ nor ‘narrative’ are standardised terms therefore let us take a moment to define how they are used here. Classic Ethnography has its roots in nineteenth century anthropological research (Hammersley et al. 2007). Researchers such as Robert E. Parks and Frederic Milton, within what is now known as the Chicago school (1920 to 1950) began to question the location of ‘other’ cultures. As they started exploring groups within their own country and communities, they also gave ethnography a broader scope. 

The inferences of subject / object (observer / observed) of early ethnographic study were replaced by the idea we are all a part of an event. An idea that resonated with methods for allowing for the embodied in research. Today ethnography covers a range of approaches but central to them all is the researcher’s voice, thoughts and experiences being present in the data. The use of ethnography in research can acknowledge that ‘I’ am not an impartial observer but ‘I’ feeland this becomes a part of the situation/event (Clifford et al. 1986). To do this you can use your own reflective notes as part of the data and cite them in the same way you would cited participants’ notes or verbal comments. You also need to use first person throughout your work on MAPP.

Likewise, the narrative turn has broadened from its early beginnings in 1900s where researchers attempted to give ‘objective’ accounts of events. As narrative became a credible method in research it retrospectively became a vehicle for the voice of the ‘other’.  The documentary voice of women and those who had colonising imposed on them had been captured in narrative accounts in the past and the development of narrative inquiry method gave new legitimacy to these accounts. (Clandinin and Connelly 2000;  Denzin and Lincoln 2000). Feminist theory particularly saw the significance of rethinking historical and social constructions by considering whose voice describes events and situations (Clifford et al. 1986;  Strathern 1995).

In the late Twentieth Century the notion of narrative inquiry was further interrogated by a crisis of representation that generated exploration into experimental writing pushing the boundaries of narrative by raising questions about how researchers can attempt to engage with ‘truth’ within a non-positivist paradigm. Within sports science and dance the problem of capturing the embodied experience is highlighted by the dualist informed divide between words and actions that a range of experimental narrative strategies attempt to address (Sparkes 2002). (i.e. they attempt to present the felt within the experience – this is why we ask for an artefact as well as straight written essay more than one way of explaining the complex experience of doing something - in the case of the final artefact case the experience of doing the inquiry.)

Bibliography

Clandinin, D. J. and Connelly, F. M. (2000) Narrative inquiry: experience and story in qualitative research ,Jossey-Bass education series, 1st ed.,San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass.

Clifford, J., Marcus, G. E. and School of American, R. (1986) Writing culture: the poetics and politics of ethnography, School of American Research advanced seminar series, Berkeley, CA ; London: University of California Press.

Denzin, N. K. and Lincoln, Y. S. (2000) The handbook of qualitative research, 2nd ed., Thousand Oaks, Calif. ; London: Sage.

Hammersley, M., Atkinson, P. and Dawsonera (2007) Ethnography: principles in practice, 3rd ed.,London: Routledge.

Sparkes, A. C. (2002) Telling tales in sport and physical activity: a qualitative journey, Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Strathern, M. E. (1995) Shifting contexts : transformations in anthropological knowledge, Routledge.

Citations, Practice and Appendix

Skype Session with Module One focus.

Today we talked about three points that are important across the course (all modules) but that you will first come across in Module One.

Citations and References
 Make sure your use of citations, references and quotes are all correct.
This includes.

• Put quotes on a separate line.
• Check you are using the correct citation method for the type of resource you are referencing (for instance web-sites need to include date accessed).
• When you refer to an author or theory in your text make sure you cite what you are talking about. Don’t just write ‘Smith says it is beautiful’ you need ‘Smith (2015) says it is beautiful’. This way  you indicate where and when it was said by Smith which is important. 
• Don’t use the quote to speak for you – make sure you explain your points in your own understanding (referencing where you got the idea from) and then use quotes to show how someone else explains the same thing – quotes are like an illustration of what you are saying. 

Your practice is central 
Make sure you clearly articulate what you see your practice being in the introduction. This gives context to what you are about to discuss. This is the same for all essays – introduce what it is about at the beginning. This Module One essay and the whole course is about your practice so you need to introduce your practice to us when you write about it.

Appendix
An appendix is for extra information. You cannot assume someone reading your essay will read any appendix. Re-read your essay and make sure it makes sense and you explain your points without any of the appendix. Then any appendix that is added just gives further information (not essential information).

Points we thought were important as we summarised the session.  
Introduce your professional practice to give focus
read more: https://naomiblogging.blogspot.co.uk

Don’t assume people know what you are talking about
read more: http://shanice-blissett.blogspot.co.uk

Explain what your practice actually is, don’t just explain the module, explain ‘you’.
read more: http://rachlhickey.blogspot.co.uk

Really focus on all aspects of your practice not just one part of it.
read more: https://nicoleblachford.blogspot.co.uk

Remember your practice is more than just what you are paid to do or your training it also has something to do with the artistry you feel you bring to things, what your plans and hopes are…

For many people after a couple of years working or auditioning or creating your ‘practice’ is different from ‘what you were trained to do’.

What do you feel - please comment below
Adesola

Witnessing yourself and your assumptions about yourself - a starting point for each Module

Here is a post I have added to a bit but I originally wrote from 2013 that I think is useful as we start the new term now.  Thoughts sparked by Module One, first task. Module Twos and Module Threes please read this because these are not thoughts in terms of tips for passing Module One, they are ideas about the layers you can find in the work. Don’t think of a module ending and that’s it. The ideas introduced in each module have something to offer whatever stage you are at. Ideas are introduced in a modules as tools ways of looking at things. These are tools we are hoping you will use on-goingly; throughout this course and into your work arena and beyond your time at Middlesex!!

So I am looking at some ideas introduced in Module One, but this should be relevant to everyone on the course. 

The CV

We ask you to use your CV as a starting point for posting / thinking about introducing yourself and what your experiences.  Module One handbook suggests.

‘You should take your current professional CV and rewrite as a profile improving on its quality and Upload this as your blog profile.’ 

This is not about selling you!! it is to get you thinking about you. Why are we asking you to do this:? because we want you to start to see your Self in different contexts. To see yourself beyond how you were positioned in your prior learning environment and start to see yourself in terms of the different parts of YOUR life. Part of doing this is to start thinking about what you ‘have done’ which is what a CV narrates. See my previous blog posts on this. 

Positioning of Self

http://www.adesolaa.blogspot.com/2010/10/positioning-of-self.html

(October 10^th 2010)

(Re-thinking this might be really useful for people starting Module Two to give your self a ‘what have I just done moment’ and to contextualise any feedback you have just got from the work you just handed in (your assessed work from last term)). 

So here is what is happening for me. I feel really uncomfortable that you could feel encouraged  to just post your ‘audition’ CV. I don’t like the details such as dress size, you  SHOULD NOT post your street address as most CVs have at the top. I think it is kind-a icky to have some of those details which are about costume fittings or ‘look’ (like brown eyes etc…) on your blog which is open access to anyone who finds it. But then you are not being asked to do this directly because how relevant is that kind of CV to this context. Ask yourself what is relevant for this study. I want to encourage you to think about the message and appropriateness of the CV you post in the context of an open-access, learning blog.

Hopefully you will look at it and develop something new for this context. The ‘about me’ part of the Blog sort of serves as a CV area too. You could post about the process you took and use the actually CV you develop as your ‘About me’ content. The point is to question what it will be like for people coming across your blog. What experience will they have of you, since the blog might be the only experience they have of you. It is not just what you want to say because you know much more of the story behind the intentions you have as you make your blog. It is also about stepping ‘outside’ yourself to imagine how you are experienced. THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF ETHICS. 

A chunk of Ethics is introduced in Module Two so module Twos and Threes what do you think of the above in terms of how you are approaching ethics? this about how you affect the people that come across you or your inquiry.

Although formally introduced in Module Two it is sooooooo important to note that everything we do, every decision we make has something to say within the realm of ethics. Because experience is transactional there is inter-play you are experienced as something… ethics is about looking at how you or what you create or do are experienced. 

In this case you can ask yourself questions about why you chose the photo you chose to represent you on your blog. Does it actually look like you? Is it what you were told was a good headshot? Did you choose it because you like to think of yourself that way? What does it say about what you want to appear as? How you want to be experienced? How is it an ‘ethical’ representation of you??? Should it be? what other things have you considered: are you putting off posting on your blog because of your spelling and you don't want spelling mistakes to represent You? What things do you consider in other contexts (at auditions, at work...). do you think to try of yourself as a 'good' person! What is that?

You can ask similar questions about how you construct a CV for your blog. What pressures do you feel you have to conform to? Where is honesty in the representation of your Self in your practice? Is it possible to represent your Self ever? Is it more about learning to be what people want you to be in different parts of your life?  

Module Twos these questions are important to you because as you plan your inquiry you are starting to take your ideas (questions) out beyond your own Reflective work (journals and blog posts) and looking at literature, peers and other professionals to see what they think – but at the same time you can be thinking about these questions of representation, transaction, how things are experienced through thinking about how much value you put in information from different people because of how they appear to you. How you experience them. How much you and what you put out alters what you receive / perceive. 

Module threes this resonates with you because of course you are starting to be out in the field talking, interviewing reading and you can think about how much of You, you are gathering and how much of the ‘other person’ or ‘other’ idea it is possible for you to gather. How does the way you approach people change what you see or hear in them? I do not think you are looking for a neutral way to do this but instate to note down the impact you think you have on an encounter as being as important as the conversation / information you get from an encounter.

So what do you think? How has this post come across?? What do you think of thinking of ethics as ‘How you are experienced’?

Please comment below

Adesola

Claiming You within your work...

I put up a blog post about presentation of work. It was meant to be funny but it might have seemed a bit harsh - sorry.

What I was saying was: As you are nearing the end of the module you are on, it is important to start to think about your work in a wider context. There is a lot of inner reflection thats part of the process of the modules and it is easy to start to see your work just from the perspective of your own inner reflective process of getting to where you are.

But what you are handing in is going to be read on its own terms - the person reading it does not know the process that got you to where you are to write what you hand-in. (We are not inside your head, don't leave it up to the reader to make sense of what you are handing-in).

So you need to make sure you have the wider context in your work this includes simple things like making sure your name and student number is clearly on your work. It also includes the way you introduce or begin your work. Start with an introduction that explains who you are and what it is we will be reading in the paper you are handing in. Do not assume the person who is reading your work knows all about you.

All this is about positioning yourself and having confidence in your work. The Professional Practice element of this course connects with how you present yourself and the confidence within which you do this. Just like at an audition - even if you know the directors really well you still do the audition as if they had never seem you before.

Here are some past blogs I have written about positioning of Self:

http://adesolaa.blogspot.com/2013/11/noticing-situated-you.html

http://adesolaa.blogspot.com/2010/10/positioning-of-self.html


What do you feel? Please comment below.
Adesola

Communication- Our group SKYPEs...

On Tuesday we had out First Tuesday of the Month SKYPE chats. We did a lot of sharing of ideas and practice. People said it was really helpful to just talk to each other about where they are at and what they are doing. As you are all starting a Module (1 or 2 or 3) it is great to hear other people are also in that “oh my goodness I’ve got to start place!!!”.

Remember the blogs are sharing and listening too. They are not a place to post perfect task responses. We don’t have to see all that all the time. The blogs are for you to communicate and participate in the community of learning that is BAPP (Arts).

Bethany: http://hucklebethany.blogspot.com/2016/03/module-2-researching-my-professional.html

People talked about ideas like:

Improvisation visit Cathy Hayward’s blog if you have experiences and ideas about improvisation. It was so useful to talk to people who looked at improvisation from lots of focuses: improvisation in dance, music, teaching…. That the beauty of the Learning Community people from many different aspects of the field. Cathy: http://catherinehayward.blogspot.com

We also talked about the importance of the Literature in all the modules. It opens new doors up to you. The Literature shared ideas with you, you might not have thought of.

Jessica Plant: http://jessicaplant.blogspot.com

We talked about the practicalities of starting a SIG. this could be getting a group together on Facebook or Google hang-out or physically in a coffee shop. Some people are in the same place as each other you can meet up and skype someone in. Its just about sharing ideas with other interested people. SIG stands for Special Interest Group – it’s a group who all have a special interest in something – that is all.

We talked a bit about privacy on-line and how you don’t have to post anything on your blog you do not want someone at work to read. You can start to use the principles of ethics we look at in Module Two maybe not use the real names of people or places  and still make your learning point or idea.

Have a look at the following blog’s of people who said they would share further info and ideas that were sparked from the conversations:

Victoria: http://victoriamayvickers.blogspot.co.uk

Jess: Jessboswell@blogspot.co.uk

Lily: http://lilygrundy95.blogspot.co.uk/

Megan: http://meganlouch.blogspot.co.uk

Darren: http://darrentaggart.blogspot.com

Irini: http://irinibapp.blogspot.co.uk

Chloe: http://westchloe.blogspot.com

Most important GET ON WITH THE MODULE!!!!!! And don’t worry so much ‘about getting it right’. Getting it right IS getting on with it….

What do you think?  – My new moto is ‘don’t be a stalker, be a talker’ = Don’t just look at peoples blogs, comment.

Adesola

Campus session reflections

Here are reflections from the campus session today:

In our on campus session today, I begun realizing that the main task for me personally is to find myself within my inquiry. Reflecting upon it, some of the questions I thought about raising seem rather generic; when Adesola asked me why I was raising them in the first place, it quickly became apparent that perhaps I had to dig a little deeper.

Why do I feel a certain way about the topics I raised? Most probably because they affect me personally.

Ultimately, I have to think less of projecting an idea ‘over there’ and more of how to look for something ‘right here’ within myself.

Being faced with the aspect of ethics at the moment, I want to think more about how I affect things and how I am affected by things; knowing that I can only assume how I am affecting others, really.

Though ethics are being seen as quite a black or white kind of thing, I agree with Adesola that perhaps they are more reflective and therefor also personal.

Adesola mentioned Tina from Module 3 who was in two minds about whether she wanted to write her inquiry from a personal perspective or follow a more ‘academic’ approach by not doing so.

But why is it that we automatically divide between the me and the academics? Aren’t we allowed to approach knowledge and see it through our own eyes?

Do we think our own opinion might not sound as valid as it would sound if we spoke about it in third person, like It didn’t really affect us?

But no matter how hard I try to be objective, isn’t whatever I write ultimately my own take?

I am now planning on writing my inquiry from my point of view, reflecting my personal perspective on my own experience.

At this stage of my learning, I want to narrow it down to my inquiry topic as soon as I can so that I can allow myself to go deeper within the actual process of posing a question, or as we looked at it today, finding out what I would like to explore more. 

Read more from Irini 

http://irinibapp.blogspot.co.uk

Today I had my first campus session, it was an incredibly nerve racking experience as I didn't know what to expect. We started by introducing ourselves, where we were in the course and raising any concerns that we had. I had a question about task 2D - inquiry, I wasn't sure which practice to write about, education or arts.

Adesola asked us to write a poem entitled yesterday, it could include pictures or doodles if necessary. Once we had finished, we passed it round the circle and had to pick out key points that might tell us something about the persons interests or personality. This task was incredibly useful for me as I find reflective practice difficult and really helped me to find connections and things I am passionate about. It also helped me to identify how certain things affect me and how we affect certain things for example, the weather can have an effect on my mood. 
Next, we looked at the inquiry in Module 2 and what sort of questions we should look at. This proved to be difficult as we always wanted to answer the question instead of thinking about how it directly affects us. I personally think the trap that I will fall into, will be picking a question that is too generic and general instead of picking one I wish to know more about. 
A question that was raised was, "How can the arts be taken more seriously as a profession?" This is a question I have certainly asked myself many times, however it is too vast and not personal enough. 
Adesola was asked a question by a module 3 student asking whether she should write her inquiry from a personal or "academic" point of view. We had a long discussion about this and explored pros and cons for both avenues. I feel that it should be written from a personal prospective as the course is about exploring you and your practice. Also, it is your opinion and by writing "academically" it may give the impression that everyone feels the same. We also talked about how using ‘I’ can be academic also.    
This session really helped me to understand myself and how much I use reflective practice in my everyday life. 

Read more from Zoe:

http://zoevictoriapope.blogspot.co.uk

What do you feel, see, hear about this?

Please comment

Adesola