Theorizing Twisted Normativity in Critical Qualitative Inquiry

• In Event: 72.017 - Liminality and Twisted Normativity in Qualitative Inquiry

Abstract

Objectives: In this research, we brought together various theories and conceptual connections of otherness associated with twisted normativity/liminality especially as seen through one methodological experiment namely flash mobs. More specifically, we used examples from our flash mob events to bridge theorizing and public performances, actual limits experiences, and twisted forms of (normative) scholarship.

Perspective: Liminality and twisted normativity are not singular. Different types of liminalities draw margins closer to the center, promote subjective flexibility, and produce some individuals as hybrid, cyborgs, nomads who continuously move around different types of border spaces. In this context we draw from Derrida’s (1993) aporia and undecidedness, Deleuze’s and Guattari’s (1987; 1994) nomadic thinking and threshold. We are interested in overlapping issues of time, space, politics, and methods. Following Derrida (1982), we wonder how scholars can pass singular limits that are not a limit but which assures limit’s permeable and transparent continuity. We have asked, and continue to ask, how limits of academia and scholarship work in relation to flash mob and public inquiry/performances.

Method and Data Sources: In this research, we draw examples of liminality and twisted normativity from the methodological flash mobs we organized in diverse cultural and geographical contexts. We designed flash mobs to produce twisted forms of (research) normativity and cultural appropriateness. Flash mobs fit with our understanding of twisted normativity and liminality because they exist as conventional performance, but (at least for the viewer) they occur sporadically, outside the bounds of expected performance space. Those who may have appeared to be viewers may join in and reveal that they are actually flash mob participants.

Flash mobs have also been used across contexts and spaces for example to raise awareness of overly busy life style, protest gun control laws and cigarette companies. Flash mobs can function as a kind of Brechtian epic theater performance, where audience members are always aware that they are viewing a performance, as performance has the capacity to highlight and “make strange” or alienate through its hyper-focusing of otherwise normal events (Willet, 1964). In our work we have experimented with flash mobs in public and academic spaces including a shopping mall, train station, and university and conference environments. We used a flash mob as an approach and engagement tool to collect public’s concerns and questions about the status of public education and challenging recruitment procedures for students, as well as the norm of who gets to pose research questions.

Conclusions and Significance: Experimenting and studying within liminal spaces can generate important insights about complexities of human experiences and lives. Liminal spaces are always incomplete since they cannot be documented or described through existing language and normative concepts. Speaking back from liminal spaces is risky since complex and intersubjective liminal spaces challenge the authority of a researcher and Academia. However, the questions remain: What is being produced through this productive resistance, and how?

Authors

• Mirka E. Koro-Ljungberg, Arizona State University

• Teija Loytonen, Aalto University

• Joshua M Cruz, Arizona State University - Tempe