Soulful Stirrings: Art-full Inquiry as Process and Product (Poster 1)

• In Event: Artful Inquiry in Qualitative Research: Philosophies and Enactments

Abstract

This collaborative exploration of artful inquiry offers an ongoing dialogue, between qualitative methodologists trained at the same university years apart, now working as colleagues in the same department. This mystory/ourstory presentation examines the integration of artistic processes into qualitative research and its impact on their academic and personal lives through glimpses from their dissertation research: the first author’s examination of Trinidad Carnival mas' art (Author, 2005) and the second author’s examination of mothers’ experiences preparing menstruating children for puberty (Author, 2022).

We draw on Dillard’s (2006) concept of "soulful stirrings” to theorize their experiences as artful methodologists. “Soulful stirrings” refers to profound moments that evoke deep connections to our research, to ourselves and to one other. These stirrings are central to the authors’ understanding of artful inquiry, emphasizing the emotional and sensory engagement required in such an approach. As such, we lean into the motion of soulful stirrings as a provocation for valuing artful inquiry as both process and product (Ahmed, 2019; Manning, 2009). We reflect on the ways artful practices demand vulnerability and openness, allowing us to connect more deeply with phenomena, participants, findings and ourselves—believing researchers are “part of the nature we wish to understand” (Barad, 2007, p. 7). We share how artful processes have led to transformative experiences, shaping our identities as researchers and enriching our academic work. Further, we emphasize how artful inquiry goes beyond traditional qualitative methods by fostering a holistic and integrative approach to research. Artful inquiry allows for the expression of complex emotions and experiences we might have overlooked if relying on conventional methodologies alone.

As we dialogue across glimpses from our experiences as artful inquirers, we consider the soulful stirrings of layering our glimpses together and emphasize how ongoing conversations and reflections inform and enrich our understanding of what artful inquiries make possible. We acknowledge the challenges of vulnerability and the potential for emotional exposure that comes when we sit with soulful stirrings even as we believe vulnerability and emotional exposure are deeply connected with the transformative power of artful inquiry for us as researchers and (hopefully) for those who encounter our work.

Following glimpses of artistic processes and products from our dissertation research, sitting with these stirrings, and allowing them to be-come what they will, have connected us to the richness of experience in ways that traditional methods might not allow. We invite those who engage in this presentation to explore the possibilities of artful inquiry in their own work and to consider how it might matter to sit in the stirrings, to follow them around, and see what happens.


[References omitted here due to word count (form lacks a separate field for references). See submission document.]

Authors

• Janice B. Fournillier, Georgia State University

• Janie Copple, Georgia State University