I Know, Therefore I Act? Building Knowledge Through Moments of Knowing and Transformational Research Practices

• In Event: Doing Narrative Inquiry: Unearthing New Understandings

Abstract

This study draws on autoethnographic and narrative sources in which knowledge is conceptualised as both a stimulus for and an outcome of action.Through a profound moment of knowing, faced with the toxic social reality (Garbarino:1995) of children’s lives, the researcher’s perspective on the world was jolted into ‘seeing big’ (Greene:1995). Embracing Clandinin’s theory that ‘we are in the parade we presume to study’ (2000), the researcher sought to place herself reflexively within the text and endeavoured to weave her story and experiences with that of the research participants. The study reveals the kaleidoscope of possibilities for transformation which were released when personal reflection, dialogue and action were woven into a twenty-year journey informed by respectful relationships and action.

Author

• Ann Mary Higgins, Mary Immaculate College