Navigating the Failures of Theory

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable 9:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Reexamining What Exists in Qualitative Inquiry (Table 26)

Abstract

In this paper, we engage the tension between the failures and possibilities of theories to which we hold attachments. The failure of theory for us is also the failure of qualitative research because as scholars who engage in philosophically informed and critical inquiries, research and theory are inextricably bound. Drawing on our individual and collective experiences, we explore moments when the promise of philosophy crumbled as seismic shifts in culture, politics, and public health rendered useless theories we had long relied upon. Our purpose is to consider how failure can be a productive space and how the failure of theory in our lives and our research is not static but rather shifts with the material conditions of the world.

Authors

• Jessica Van Cleave, Gardner-Webb University

• Travis Marn, Southern Connecticut State University