The ambivalent practices of reflexivity

Bronwyn Davies, Jennifer Browne, Susanne Gannon, Eileen Honan, Cath Laws, Babette Mueller-Rockstroh

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    Abstract

    Reflexivity involves turning one's reflexive gaze on discourse--turning language back on itself to see the work it does in constituting the world. The subject/researcher sees simultaneously the object of her or his gaze and the means by which the object (which may include oneself as subject) is being constituted. The consciousness of self that reflexive writing sometimes entails may be seen to slip inadvertently into constituting the very (real) self that seems to contradict a focus on the constitutive power of discourse. This article explores this site of slippage and of ambivalence. In a collective biography on the topic of reflexivity, the authors tell and write stories about reflexivity and in a doubled reflexive arc, examine themselves at work during the workshop. Examining their own memories and reflexive practices, they explore this place of slippage and provide theoretical and practical insight into "what is going on" in reflexive research and writing.
    Original languageEnglish
    Number of pages30
    JournalQualitative Inquiry
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2004

    Keywords

    • ambivalence
    • discourse
    • poststructuralism
    • reflexivity (grammar)
    • self

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'The ambivalent practices of reflexivity'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this