Research, Representation, and Violence

• In Event: Care, Emotion, and Reflexivity in Qualitative Research

Abstract

In this paper, I aim to examine the effects of power imbricated with practice of representation through a theoretical framework informed by Derrida. As I self-reflexively interrogate my own experiences, I analyze how an attempt to transforming the unknown into the knowable, which is an integral part of any research, might constitute a form of violence. I make the argument that the mundane form of violence invoked by the practice of transferring undecidability to decidability is intrinsic to the act of representation in research. What we, as a researcher, should and can do without falling into nihilism is discussed.

Author

• Su Jung Um, Gyeonggi Institute of Education