Methodological Drag: Performances of Conflicting Epistemologies and Theories in Qualitative Research

• In Event: 70.066 - Roundtable Session 28
  In Roundtable Session: 70.066-1 - Theoretical Considerations for Qualitative Research Practice

Abstract

Methodological drag is a performance in which qualitative methodologists convincingly masquerade as situated within epistemological, theoretical, and/or methodological frameworks that they may not situate themselves in personally or professionally. For the authors, methodological drag is about having to pass as a humanist. Such performances are necessary given student and/or doctoral committee epistemological adherences, and yet said performances often conflict with how they have come to understand and perform themselves as qualitative researchers whose work is situated in posthumanist epistemologies and ontologies. In this presentation, the authors provide examples of how they negotiate and perform the often times conflicting positions that are expected when they show up in methodological drag.

Authors

• Susan Naomi Nordstrom, The University of Memphis

• Alison Happel-Parkins, The University of Memphis