W~lifiNG

A Method of Inquiry

+ Laurel Richardson

The writer's object is-or should be-to hold the reader's attention . ... I want the reader to turn
the page and keep on turning to the end.
Barbara Tuchman, New York Times, February 2, 1989

I n the spirit of affectionate irreverence toward ditional-or alternative-research practice. In

gualitative research, I consider writing as a standard social scientific discourse, methods for
methoa of inquiry, a way of finding out about acquiring data are distinct from the writing of
yourself and your topic. Although we usually the research report, the latter presumed to be an
think aoout writing as a mode of "telling" about unproblematic activity, a transparent report
the social world, writing is not just a mop- about the world studied. When we view writing
ping-up activity at the end of a research project. as a method, however, we experience "lan-
Writing is also a way of "knowing"-a method guage-in-use," how we "word the world" into
of discovery and analysis. By writing in different existence (Rose, 1992). And then we "reword"
ways, we (iiscover new aspects of our topic and the world, erase the computer screen, check the
our relationship to it. Form and content are in- thesaurus, move a paragraph, again and again.
separable. This "worded world" never accurately, pre-
Writing as ~ method of inquiry departs from cisely, completely captures the studied world,
stapdard social science practices. It offers an ad- yet we persist in trying. Writing as a method of

AUTHO~S NOTE: I thank Ernest Lockridge for many discussions about this chapter, and his reading of it multiple
times. I also thank Arthur Bochner, Norman Denzin, Carolyn Ellis, Michelle Fine, Patti Lather, Yvonna Lincoln,
Meaghan Morris, and John VanMaanen for their generous and valuable critiques. And, finally, I am grateful to the
many students who have told me they found the earlier version of this chapter useful; they have given me the energy
and the will to revise it.

• 923
924 + INTERPRETATION, EVALUATION, AND REPRESENTATION

inquiry honors and encourages the trying, rec- only to find the text boring. It was not that the
ognizing it as embryonic to the full-fledged at- writing was complex and difficult, but that it
tention to the significance of language. suffered from acute and chronic passivity: pas-
Writing as a method of inquiry, then, pro- sive-voiced author, passive "subjects." "Coming
vides a research practice through which we can out" to colleagues and students about my secret
investigate how we construct the world, our- displeasure with much of qualitative writing, I
selves, and others, and how standard objecti- found a community of like-minded discontents.
fying practices of social science unnecessarily Undergraduates, graduates, and colleagues
limit us and social science. Writing as method alike say they have found much of qualitative
does not take writing for granted, but offers writing-yes-boring.
multiple ways to learn to do it, and to nurture We have a serious problem: Research topics
the writer. are riveting and research valuable, but qualita-
I have comp~sed this chapter into two tive books are underread. Unlike quantitative
equally importa~, but differently formatted, work, which can be interpreted through its ta-
sections. I emphasize the equally because the bles and summaries, qualitative work carries its
first section, an essay, has rhetorical advantages meaning in its entire text. Just as a piece of liter-
over its later-born sib. In the first section, "Writ- ature is not equivalent to its "plot summary,"
ing in Contexts," I position myself as a reader/ qualitative research is not contained in its ab-
writer of qualitative research. Then, I discuss (a) stracts. Qualitative research has to be read, not
the historical roots of social scientific writing, scanned; its meaning is in the reading.
including its dependence upon metaphor and Qualitative work could be reaching wide and
prescribed writing formats; (b) the postmo- diverse audiences, not just devotees of individ-
dernist possibilities for qualitative writing, in- ual topics or authors. It seems foolish at best,
cluding creative analytic practices and their and narcissistic and wholly self-absorbed at
ethnographic products; and (c) the future of worst, to spend months or years doing research
ethnography. In the second section, "Writing that ends up not being read and not making a
Practices," I offer a compendium of writing sug- difference to anything but the author's career.
gestions and exercises. Can something be done? That is the question
Necessarily, the chapter reflects my own pro- that drives this chapter: How do we create texts
cess and preferences. I encourage researchers to that are vital? That are attended to? That make a
explore their own processes and preferences difference? One way to create those texts is to
through writing. Writing from our Selves should turn our attention to writing as a method of in-
strengthen the community of qualitative re- quiry.
searchers and the individual voices within it, be- I write because I want to find something out.
cause we will be more fully present in our work, I write in order to learn something that I did not
more honest, more engaged. know before I wrote it. I was taught, however, as
perhaps you were, too, not to write until I knew
what I wanted to say, until my points were orga-
+ Writing in Contexts nized and outlined. No surprise, this static writ-
ing model coheres with mechanistic scientism
and quantitative research. But, I will argue, this
static writing model is itself a sociohistorical in-
I have a confession to make. For 30 years, I had vention that reifies the static social world imag-
yawned my way through numerous suppos- ined by our 19th-century foreparents. The
edly exemplary qualitative studies. Countless model has serious problems: It ignores the role
numbers of texts I abandoned half read, half of writing as a dynamic, creative process; it un-
scanned. I would order a new book with great dermines the confidence of beginning qualita-
anticipation-the topic was one I was interested tive researchers because their experience of re-
in, the author was someone I wanted to read- search is inconsistent with the writing model;
 Writing: A Method of Inquiry + 92 5

and it contributes to the flotilla of qualitative other forms of writing, is a sociohistorical con-
writing that is simply not interesting to read be- struction, and, therefore, mutable.
cause adherence to the model requires writers Since the 17th century, the world of writing
to silence their own voices and to view them- has been divided into two separate kinds: literary
selves as contaminants. and scientific. Literature, from the 17th century
Qualitative researchers commonly speak of onward, was associated with fiction, rhetoric,
the importance of the individual researcher's and subjectivity, whereas science was associated
skills and aptitudes. The researcher-rather with fact, "plain language," and objectivity (Clif-
than the survey, the questionnaire, or the cen- ford, 1986, p. 5). Fiction was "false" because it
sus tape-is the "instrument." The more honed invented reality, unlike science, which was
the researcher, the better the possibility of ex- "true" because it purportedly "reported" "objec-
cellent research. Students are taught to be tive" reality in an unambiguous voice.
open, to observe, listen, question, and partici- During the 18th century, assaults upon litera-
pate. Yet they are taught to conceptualize writ- ture intensified. John Locke cautioned adults to
ing as "writing-up" the research, rather than as forgo figurative language lest the "conduit" be-
an open place, a method of discovery. Promul- tween "things" and "thought" be obstructed.
gating "writing-up" validates a mechanistic David Hume depicted poets as professional liars.
model of writing, shutting down the creativity Jeremy Bentham proposed that the ideal lan-
and sensibilities of the individual writer/re- guage would be one without words, only unam-
searcher. biguous symbols. Samuel Johnson's dictionary
One reason, then, that some of our texts sought to fix "univocal meanings in perpetuity,
may be boring is that our sense of Self is dimin- much like the univocal meanings of standard
ished as we are homogenized through profes- arithmetic terms" (Levine, 1985, p. 4).
sional socialization, rewards, and punishments. Into this linguistic world the Marquis de
Homogenization occurs through the suppres- Condorcet introduced the term social science.
sion of individual voices and the acceptance of He contended that "knowledge of the truth"
the omniscient voice of science as if it were our would be "easy and error almost impossible" if
own. How do we put ourselves in our own one adopted precise language about moral and
texts, and with what consequences? How do social issues (quoted in Levine, 1985, p. 6). By
we nurture our own individuality and at the the 19th century, literature and science stood as
same time lay claim to "knowing" something? two separate domains. Literature was aligned
These are both philosophically and practically with "art" and "culture"; it contained the values
difficult problems. of "taste, aesthetics, ethics, humanity, and moral-
ity" (Clifford, 1986, p. 6) and the rights to meta-
phoric and ambiguous language. Given to sci-
Historical Contexts: ence was the belief that its words were objective,
Writing Conventions precise, unambiguous, noncontextual, and
nonmetaphoric.
Language is a constitutive force, creating a But because literary writing was taking a sec-
particular view of reality and of the Self. Pro- ond seat to science in importance, status, impact,
ducing "things" always involves value-what and truth value, some literary writers attempted
to produce, whatto name the productions, and to make literature a part of science. By the late
what the relationship between the producers 19th century, "realism" dominated both science
and the named things will be. Writing "things" and fiction writing (Clough, 1992). Honore de
is no exception. No textual staging is ever inno- Balzac spearheaded the realism movement in lit-
cent (including this one). Styles of writing are erature. He viewed society as an "historical or-
neither fixed nor neutral but reflect the histori- ganism" with "social species" akin to "zoological
cally shifting domination of particular schools species." Writers deserving of praise, he con-
or paradigms. Social scientific writing, like all tended, must investigate "the reasons or causes"
926 + INTERPRETATION, EVALUATION, AND REPRESENTATION

of "social effects"-the "first principles" upon writing is narrative writing, I would contend
which society is based (Balzac, 1842/1965, that there is still one major difference separating
pp. 247-249). For Balzac, the novel was an "in- fiction from science writing. The difference is
strument of scientific inquiry" (Crawford, not whether the text really is fiction or nonfic-
1951, p. 7). Following Balzac's lead, Emile Zola tion, but the claim the author makes for the text.
argued for "naturalism" in literature. In his fa- Claiming to write "fiction" is different from
mous essay "The Novel as Social Science," he claiming to write "science" in terms of the audi-
argued that the "return to nature, the naturalis- ence one seeks, the impact one might have on
tic evolution which marks the century, drives lit- different publics, and how one expects "truth
tle by little all the manifestation of human intel- claims" to be evaluated. These differences
ligence into the same scientific path." Literature should not be overlooked or minimized.
is to be "governed by science" (Zola, Whenever there are changes in writing styles
1880/1965, p. 271). and formats, we can expect intellectual interest
As the 20th cehtury unfolded, the relation- in documenting and tracing those changes. To-
ships between sdcial scientific writing and liter- day, scholars in a host of disciplines are tracing
ary writing grew in complexity. The presumed the relationships between scientific and literary
solid demarcations between "fact" and "fiction" writing and are deconstructing the differences
and between "true" and "imagined" were between them (see Agger, 1989; Brodkey, 1987;
blurred. The blurring was most hotly debated Brown, 1977; Clough, 1992; Edmondson,
around writing for the public-or journalism. 1984; Mishler, 1989; Nelson, Megill, &
In what Tom Wolfe dubbed the "new journal- McCloskey, 1987; Simons, 1990). Their
ism," writers consciously blurred the bound- deconstructive analyses concretely show how
aries between "fact" and "fiction" and con- all disciplines have their own sets of literary de-
sciously made themselves the center of the story. vices-not necessarily fiction writing de-
(For an excellent extended discussion of the vices-and rhetorical appeals such as probabil-
new journalism, see Denzin, 1997, chap. 5.) ity tables, archival records, and first-person
New journalists also encroached upon eth- accounts.
nography's province, borrowing its methods Each social science writing convention could
and reporting social and cultural life not as "re- be discussed at length, but I will address here
porters," but as social analysts. Joining those only (a) metaphor and (b) writing format. I
trespassers were fiction writers such as Truman choose these conventions because they are om-
Capote, Joan Didion, and Norman Mailer. Pro- nipresent, and because I believe they are good
fessors of literature awakened and reawakened sites for experimenting with writing as a
interest in novels by minority and postcolonial method of inquiry (see the section headed
writers by positioning them as "ethnographic "Writing Practices").
novels"-narratives that tell about cultures
through characters (see Ba, 1987; Hurston, Metaphor
1942/1991).
By the 1970s, "crossovers" between writing Metaphor, a literary device, is the backbone
forms spawned the naming of oxymoronic gen- of social science writing. Like the spine, it bears
res: "creative nonfiction," "faction," "ethno- weight, permits movement, is buried beneath
graphic fiction," the "nonfiction novel," and the surface, and links parts together into a fUnc-
"true fiction." By 1980, the novelist E. L. tional, coherent whole. As this metaphor about
Doctorow would assert, "There is no longer any metaphor suggests, the essence of metaphor is
such things as fiction or nonfiction, there is only experiencing and understanding one thing in
narrative" (quoted in Fishkin, 1985, p. 7). terms of another. This is accomplished through
Despite the actual blurring of genres, and de- comparison (e.g., "My love is like a green, green
spite our contemporary understanding that all toad") or analogy (e.g. "the evening of life").
 Writing: A Method of Inquiry + 927

Social scientific writing uses metaphors at tility, argumentativeness, and confrontation. In

every "level." Social science depends upon a the 1970s, feminist researchers introduced and
deep epistemic code regarding the way "that acted upon a different metaphor: "Theory is
knowledge and understanding in general are story." Not only is the personal the political, the
figured" (Shapiro, 1985-1986, p. 198). Meta- personal is the grounding for theory. With the
phors external to a particular piece of research new metaphor for their work, many feminists al-
prefigure the analysis with a "truth-value" code tered their research and writing practices;
belonging to another domain Uameson, 1981). women talking about their experience,
For example, the use of enlighten for knowl- narrativizing their lives, telling individual and
edge is a light-based metaphor, what Derrida collective stories became understood as women
(1982) refers to as the heliocentric view of theorizing their lives. The boundary between
knowledge, the passive receipt of rays. Imma- "narrative" and "analysis" dissolved.
nent in such metaphors are philosophical and Metaphors are everywhere. Consider func-
value commitments so entrenched and familiar tionalism, role theory, game theory, dramatur-
that they can do their partisan work in the guise gical analogy, organicism, social evolutionism,
of neutrality, passing as literal. the social system, ecology, labeling theory, equi-
Theoretical schemata are always situated in librium, human capital, resource mobilization,
complex, systematic metaphors. Consider the ethnic insurgency, developing countries, stratifi-
following statements about theory (examples cation and significance tests. Metaphors orga-
inspired by Lakoff &johnson, 1980, p. 46): nize social scientific work and affect the inter-
pretations of the "facts"; indeed, facts are
• What is the foundation of your theory? interpretable ("make sense") only in terms of
• Your theory needs support. their place within a metaphoric structure. The
• Your position is shaky. "sense making" is always value constituting-
• Your argument is falling apart. making sense in a particular way, privileging one
• Let's construct an argument. ordering of the "facts" over others.
• The form of your argument needs but-
tressing. Writing Format
• Given your framework, no wonder your
argument fell apart. In addition to the metaphoric basis of social
scientific writing, there are prescribed writing
The italicized words express our customary, formats: How we are expected to write affects
unconscious use of the metaphor "Theory is ar- what we can write about. The referencing system
chitecture." The metaphor, moreover, struc- in social science, for example, discourages the
tures the actions we take in theorizing and what use of footnotes, a place for secondary argu-
we believe constitutes theory. We try to build a ments, novel conjectures, and related ideas.
theoretical structure, which we then experi- Knowledge is constituted as "focused," "prob-
ence as a structure, which has a form and a lem" (hypothesis) centered, "linear," straightfor-
foundation, which we then experience as an ed- ward. Other thoughts are extraneous. Induc-
ifice, sometimes quite grand, sometimes in need tively accomplished research is to be reported
of shoring up, and sometimes in need of dis- deductively; the argument is to be abstracted in
mantling, or, more recently, deconstructing. 15 0 words or less; and researchers are to identify
Historically, theory constructors have de- explicitly with a theoretical label. Each of these
ployed combative metaphors. Sport, game, and conventions favors-creates and sustains-a
war are common ones. These metaphoric particular vision of what constitutes knowledge.
schemes do not resonate with many women's The conventions hold tremendous material and
interests, and, in addition, they have contrib- symbolic power over social scientists. Using
uted to an academic intellectual culture of hos- them increases the probability of one's work be-
928 + INTERPRETATION, EVALUATION, AND REPRESENTATION

ing accepted into "core" social science journals, Postmodernist Context

but they are not prima facie evidence of
greater-or lesser-truth value or significance
We are fortunate, now, to be working in a
than social science writing using other conven-
postmodernist climate (see Agger, 1990; Clif-
tions.
ford & Marcus, 1986; Denzin, 1986, 1991,
Additional social science writing conven-
1995; Hutcheon, 1988; Lehman, 1991;
tions have governed ethnographies. Needful of
Lyotard, 1984; Nicholson, 1990; Turner &
distinguishing their work from travelers' and
Bruner, 1986), a time when a multitude of ap-
missionaries' reports as well as from imagina-
proaches to knowing and telling exist side by
tive writing, ethnographers adopted an imper-
side. The core of postmodernism is the doubt
sonal, third-person voice to explain "observed
that any method or theory, discourse or genre,
phenomena" and to trumpet the authenticity of tradition or novelty, has a universal and general
their representations (see Ted lock, Chapter 17, claim as the "right" or the privileged form of au-
this volume). Jo}m VanMaanen (1988) identi- thoritative knowledge. Postmodernism suspects
fies four co~entions used in traditional all truth claims of masking and serving particu-
ethnographies, or "realist tales": (a) experiential lar interests in local, cultural, and political
author(ity), where the author exists only in the struggles. But it does not automatically reject
preface to establish "I was there" and "I am are- conventional methods of knowing and telling as
searcher" credentials; (b) documentary style, or false or archaic. Rather, it opens those standard
a plethora of concrete, particular details that methods to inquiry and introduces new meth-
presume to represent the typical activity, pat- ods, which are also, then, subject to critique.
tern, culture member; (c) the culture member's The postmodernist context of doubt, then,
point of view, putatively presented through distrusts all methods equally. No method has a
quotations, explanations, syntax, cultural privileged status. The superiority of "science"
cliches, and so on; and (d) interpretive omnipo- over "literature''-or, from another vantage
tence of the ethnographer. Many of the classic point, "literature" over "science"-is chal-
books in the social sciences are realist tales. lenged. But a postmodernist position does allow
These include Kai Erikson's Everything in Its us to know "something" without claiming to
Path (1976), William Foote Whyte's Street Cor- know everything. Having a partial, local, histor-
ner Society (1943), Elliot Liebow's Tally's Cor- ical knowledge is still knowing. In some ways,
ner (1967), and Carol Stack's All Our Kin "knowing" is easier, however, because postmo-
(1974). dernism recognizes the situational limitations of
Other genres of qualitative writing--such as the knower. Qualitative writers are off the
texts based on life histories or in-depth inter- hook, so to speak. They don't have to try to play
views-have their own sets of traditional con- God, writing as disembodied omniscient narra-
ventions (see Mishler, 1989; Richardson, tors claiming universal, atemporal general
1990). In these qualitative texts, researchers es- knowledge; they can eschew the questionable
tablish their credentials in the introductory or metanarrative of scientific objectivity and still
methods section; they write the body of the text have plenty to say as situated speakers, sub-
as though the document and quotation snippets jectivities engaged in knowing/telling about the
are naturally present, valid, reliable, and fully world as they perceive it.
representative, rather than selected, pruned, A particular kind of postmodernist thinking
and spruced up by the author for their textual that I have found especially helpful is post-
appearance. As in cultural ethnographies, the structuralism (for an overview, see Weedon.,
assumption of scientific authority is rhetorically 1987; for application of the perspective in are-
displayed in these other qualitative texts. Exam- search setting, see Davies, 1994). Poststruc-
ples of conventional "life story" texts include turalism links language, subjectivity, social orga-
Lillian Rubin's Worlds of Pain (1976), Sharon nization, and power. The centerpiece is language.
Kaufman's The Ageless Self (1986), and my own Language does not "reflect" social reality, but
The New Other Woman (Richardson, 1985). produces meaning, creates social reality. Differ-
 Writing: A Method of Inquiry + 929

ent languages and different discourses within thing at once to everyone. Nurturing our own
a given language divide up the world and give voices releases the censorious hold of "science
it meaning in ways that are not reducible to writing" on our consciousness, as well as the ar-
one another. Language is how social organiza- rogance it fosters in our psyche: Writing is vali-
tion and power are defined and contested dated as a method of knowing.
and the place where our sense of selves, our
subjectivity, is constructed. Understanding lan- Creative Analytic Practices:
guage as competing discourses, competing
CAP Ethnography
ways of giving meaning and of organizing the
world, makes language a site of exploration and In the wake of postmodernist-including
struggle. poststructuralist, feminist, queer, and critical
Language is not the result of one's individu- race theory-critiques of traditional qualitative
ality; rather, language constructs the individ- writing practices, qualitative work now appears
ual's subjectivity in ways that are historically in multiple venues in different forms. Sci-
and locally specific. What something means to ence-writing prose is not held sacrosanct. The
individuals is dependent on the discourses ethnographic genre has been blurred, enlarged,
available to them. For example, being hit by altered to include poetry, drama, conversations,
one's spouse is differently experienced if it is readers' theater, and so on. These ethnographies
thought of within the discourse of "normal are like each other in that they are produced
marriage," "husbands' rights," or "wife batter- through creative analytic practices. I have settled
ing." If a woman sees male violence as "nor- upon calling this class of ethnographies creative
mal" or a "husband's right," then she is unlikely analytic practice ethnography, or CAP ethnogra-
to see it as "wife battering," an illegitimate use phy. This label can include new work, future
of power that should not be tolerated. Simi- work, and older work, wherever the author has
larly, when a man is exposed to the discourse of moved outside conventional social scientific
"childhood sexual abuse," he may recategorize writing.
and remember his own traumatic childhood I know that any concept or acronym is prob-
experiences. Experience and memory are thus lematic, subject to critique. Yet the more I
open to contradictory interpretations gov- thought about what to name these genre-break-
erned by social interests and prevailing dis- ing ethnographies, the more I liked the complex
courses. The individual is both site and subject metaphoric resonances of the acronym CAP. The
of these discursive struggles for identity and for English word cap comes from the Latin for head,
remaking memory. Because individuals are sub- caput. Using "head" to signal ethnographic
ject to multiple and competing discourses in breaching work can help break down the
many realms, their subjectivity is shifting and mind/body duality. The "head" is both mind and
contradictory, not stable, fixed, rigid. body and more, too. Producers of CAP ethnogra-
Poststructuralism thus points to the contin- phy are using their "heads." The products, al-
ual cocreation of Self and social science: Each is though mediated throughout the body, cannot
known through the other. Knowing the self and manifest without "headwork."
knowing about the subject are intertwined, Cap-both noun (product) and verb (pro-
partial, historical, local knowledges. Poststruc- cess)-has multiple common and idiomatic
turalism, then, permits-nay, invites-no, in- meanings and associations, some of which re-
cites-us to reflect upon our method and ex- fract the playfulness of the genre: a rounded
plore new ways of knowing. head covering; a special head covering indicating
Specifically, poststructuralism suggests two occupation or membership in a particular group;
important things to qualitative writers: First, it the top of a building, or fungus; a small explosive
directs us to understand ourselves reflexively as charge; any of several sizes of writing paper;
persons writing from particular positions at putting the final touches on; lying on top of; sur-
specific times; and second, it frees us from try- passing, outdoing. And then there are the other
ing to write a single text in which we say every- associated words from the Latin root, such as
930 + INTERPRETATION, EVALUATION, AND REPRESENTATION

capillary and capital(ism), which humble and 1991; Church, 1999: Davies, 1989; Dorst,
contextualize the labor. 1989; Fine, 1992; hooks, 1990;Jipson & Paley,
The practices that produce CAP ethnogra- 1997; Jones, 1998; Lather, 1991; Lather &
phy are both creative and analytic. Those hold- Smithies, 1997; Lee, 1996; Linden, 1992;
ing the dinosaurian belief that "creative" and Pfohl, 1992; Richardson, 1997; Rose, 1989;
"analytic" are contradictory and incompatible Stoller, 1989; Trinh, 1989; Ulmer, 1989;
modes are standing in the path of a meteor. Visweswaran, 1994; Walkerdine, 1990; Wil-
They are doomed for extinction. Witness the liams, 1991; Wolf, 1992).
evolution, proliferation, and diversity of new For more than a decade, what I am calling
ethnographic "species" during the past two de- CAP ethnography has been labeled experimen-
cades. tal or alternative (see VanMaanen, 1995). Un-
Here is but a sampling of the many "species" intentionally, however, those labels have
of CAP ethnography: autoethnography (Behar, reinscribed traditional ethnographic practices
1993, 1996; Bruner, 1996; Church, 1995; Ellis, as the standard, the known, accepted, preferred,
1993, 1995a, 1~5b, 1998; Frank, 1995; tried-and-true mode of doing and representing
Geertz, 1988; Gerla, 1995; Goetting &Fenster- qualitative research. I believe that reinscription
maker, 1995; Karp, 1996; Kondo, 1990; is now unnecessary, false, and deleterious. CAP
Krieger, 1991, 1996; Lawrence-Lightfoot, ethnographies are not alternative or experimen-
1994; McMahon, 1996; Shostak, 1996; Slobin, tal; they are in and of themselves valid and desir-
1995; Steedman, 1986; Yu, 1997; Zola, 1982), able representations of the social. Into the fore-
fiction-stories (Cherry, 1995; Diversi, 1998a, seeable future, these ethnographies may indeed
1998b; Frohock, 1992; Richardson & Lock- be the most valid and desirable representa-
ridge, 1998; Rinehart, 1998; Shelton, 1995; tions, for they invite people in; they open
Sparkes, 1997; Stewart, 1989; Williams, 1991; spaces for thinking about the social that elude
Wilson, 1965; Wolf, 1992), poetry (Baff, 1997; us now.
Brady, 1991; Diamond, 1982; Glesne, 1997; CAP ethnography displays the writing pro-
Norum, in press; Patai, 1988; Prattis, 1985; cess and the writing product as deeply inter-
Richardson, 1992a), drama (Ellis & Bochner, twined; both are privileged. The product can-
1992; Paget, 1990; Richardson, 1993, 1996a; not be separated from the producer or the mode
Richardson & Lockridge, 1991), performance of production or the method of knowing. Be-
texts (Denzin, 1997; McCall & Becker, 1990; cause all research-traditional and CAP ethnog-
Mienczakowski, 1996; Richardson, 1998, raphy-is now produced within the broader
1999a, 1999b), polyvocal texts (see Butler & postmodernist climate of "doubt," readers (and
Rosenblum, 1991; Daly & Dienhart, 1998; reviewers) want and deserve to know how the
Krieger, 1983; Pandolfo, 1997; Schneider, researcher claims to know. How does the author
1991), readers' theater (see Donmoyer & position the Self as a knower and teller? These
Yennie-Donmoyer, 1995), responsive readings questions engage intertwined problems of sub-
(see Richardson, 1992b), aphorisms (Rose, jectivity, authority, authorship, reflexivity, and
1992, 1993), comedy and satire (see Barley, process on the one hand and representational
1986, 1988), visual presentations (see Harper, form on the other.
1987; Jacobs, 1984; McCall, Gammel, & Tay- Postmodernism claims that writing is always
lor, 1994), allegory (Lawton, 1997, pp. 193- partial, local, and situational, and that our Self is
214), conversation (see Ellis & Bochner, 1996b; always present, no matter how much we try to
Richardson & Lockridge, 1998), layered ac- suppress it-but only partially present, for in
counts Uago, 1996; Ronai, 1992, 1995), our writing we repress parts of ourselves, too.
writing-stories (see Lawton, 1997; Richardson, Working from that premise frees us to write ma-
1995, 1997; St. Pierre, 1997a, 1997b), and terial in a variety of ways: to tell and retell.
mixed genres (see Angrosino, 1998; Brown, There is no such thing as "getting it right"-
 Writing: A Method of Inquiry + 931

only "getting it" differently contoured and struggle to find a textual place for ourselves and
nuanced. When using creative analytic prac- our doubts and uncertainties.
tices, ethnographers learn about their topics One form of evocative writing is autoeth-
and about themselves that which was unknow- nography. (This topic is fully covered by Ellis &
able and unimaginable using conventional ana- Bochner in Chapter 28 of this volume; see also
lytic procedures, metaphors, and writing for- Fine et a!., Chapter 4.) Autoethnographies are
mats. Even if one chooses to write an article in a highly personalized, revealing texts in which au-
conventional form, trying on different modes thors tell stories about their own lived experi-
of writing is a practical and powerful way to ex- ences, relating the personal to the cultural. The
pand one's interpretive skills, raise one's con- power of these narratives depends upon their
sciousness, and bring a fresh perspective to rhetorical staging as "true stories," stories
one's research. about events that really happened to the writers.
It is beyond this chapter's scope for me to In telling these stories, the writers call upon
outline or comment here on the scores of new such fiction-writing techniques as dramatic re-
ethnographic practices and forms. And it•is far call, strong imagery, fleshed-out characters, un-
beyond that scope for me to discuss practices usual phrasings, puns, subtexts, allusions, flash-
that exceed the written page-performance backs and flashforwards, tone shifts,
pieces, readers' theater, museum displays, cho- synecdoche, dialogue, and interior monologue.
reographed research findings, fine-art repre- Through these techniques, the writers construct
sentations, hypertexts, and so on-although I sequences of events, or "plots," holding back on
welcome these additions to the qualitative rep- interpretation, asking readers to "relive" the
ertoire. Instead, I will address a class of genres events emotionally, with the writers. These nar-
that deploy literary devices to re-create lived ratives seek to meet literary criteria of coher-
experience and evoke emotional responses. ence, verisimilitude, and interest. Some narra-
I call these evocative representations. I resist tives of the Self are staged as imaginative
providing the reader with snippets from these renderings; others are staged as personal essays,
forms, because snippets will not do them jus- striving for honesty, revelation, the "larger pic-
tice. I will describe some texts, but I have no - ture." In either case, autoethnographers are
desire to valorize a new canon. Again, pro- somewhat relieved of the problem of speaking
cess rather than product is the purpose of this for the "Other," because they are the "Other" in
chapter. their texts.
Evocative forms display interpretive frame- Related to autoethnography without neces-
works that demand analysis of themselves as sarily invoking the writing strategies mentioned
cultural products and as methods for rendering above are narratives about the writing process it-
the social. Evocative representations are a self. I call these writing-stories (Richardson,
striking way of seeing through and beyond so- 1997). These are narratives about contexts in
cial scientific naturalisms. Casting social sci- which the writing is produced. They situate the
ence into evocative forms reveals the rhetoric author's writing in other parts of the author's
and the underlying labor of the production, as life, such as disciplinary constraints, academic
well as social science's potential as a human en- debates, departmental politics, social move-
deavor, because evocative writing touches us ments, community structures, research interests,
where we live, in our bodies. Through it we can familial ties, and personal history. They offer
experience the self-reflexive and transforma- critical reflexivity about the writing-self in dif-
tional process of self-creation. Trying out evo- ferent contexts as a valuable creative analytic
cative forms, we relate differently to our mate- practice. They evoke new questions about the
rial; we know it differently. We find ourselves self and the subject; they remind us that our
attending to feelings, ambiguities, temporal se- work is grounded, contextual, and rhizomatic.
quences, blurred experiences, and so on; we They can evoke deeper parts of the Self, heal
932 + INTERPRETATION, EVALUATION, AND REPRESENTATION

wounds, enhance the sense of self-or even al- the story. For the most part, I have found no eth-
ter one's sense of identity. ical problem in publishing stories that reflect the
In Fields of Play: Constructing an Academic abuse of power by administrators; I consider the
Life (1997), I make extensive use of writing-sto- damage done by them far greater than any dis-
ries to contextualize 10 years of my sociological comfort my stories might cause them. In con-
work, creating a text more congruent with trast, I feel constraint when writing about my
poststructural understandings of the situated family members. Anything I have published
nature of knowledge. Putting my papers andes- about them, I have checked out with them; in
says in the chronological order in which they the case of more distant family members, I have
were conceptualized, I sorted them into two changed their names and identifying character-
piles-" keeper" and "reject." When I reread my istics. Some of my recent writing I will not pub-
first keeper-a presidential address to the lish for a while because it would be too costly tQ
North Central Sociological Association-mem- me and my familial relations to do so.
ories of being pAtronized, marginalized, and Graduate students have found the idea of the
punished by my~ department chair and dean writing-story useful for thinking through and
reemerged. I stayed with those memories and writing about their research experiences. Some
wrote a writing-story about the disjunction be- use the writing-story as an alternative or supple-
tween my departmental life and my disciplinary ment to the traditional methods chapter and, as
reputation. Writing the story was not emotion- Judith Lawton >(1997) has done, to link thenar-
ally easy; in the writing I was reliving horrific ratives of those they have researched.
experiences, but writing it released the anger Yet to be developed as a subgenre of writ-
and pain. Many academics who read that story ing-stories are what we might call microprocess
recognize it as congruent with their experi- writing-stories (see also Meloy, 1993). Who has
ences, their untold stories. not looked at the computer screen, read a para-
I worked chronologically through the keeper graph he or she has written, and then chosen to
pile, rereading and then writing the writ- alter it? Who has not had their subsequent writ-
ing-story evoked by the rereading. Different ing affected by what they have already written?
facets, different contexts. Some stories required How does the process of writing passages and
checking my journals and files, but most did reading them back to yourself "open new ques-
not. Some stories were painful and took an in- tions and issues that feed back and emanate
terminable length of time to write, but writ- from the earlier passages?" (A. P. Bochner, per-
ing them loosened their shadow hold on me. sonal communication, May 10, 1998). How is a
Other stories are joyful and remind me of changed Self evoked through the hands-on/
the good fortunes I have in friends, colleagues, eyes-on feedback process?
family. Related to this subgenre is computer tech-
Writing-stories sensitize us to the potential nology and the textual page layout: typefaces,
consequences of all of our writing by bringing font sizes, split pages, boxed inserts, running
home-inside our homes and workplaces- bottom text, images, frames. How are choices
the ethics of representation. Writing-stories are made? With what impact on the producer and
not about people and cultures "out there"- the reader? How does the ease of manipulating
ethnographic subjects (or objects)-they are page formats and typographical style contribute
about ourselves, our work spaces, disciplines, to-or distract from-the evocativeness of the
friends, and families. What can we say? With text? Authors' discoveries about their topics and
what consequences? Writing-stories bring the themselves? These are questions looking for
danger and poignancy of ethnographic repre- writing-stories.
sentation up close and personal. Unlike the two forms discussed above, an
Each writing-story offers its writer an oppor- evocative form about which there is an exten-
tunity to make a situated and pragmatic ethical sive literature is ethnographic fiction (see Banks
decision about whether and where to publish & Banks, 1998). (For a more extended discus-
 Writing: A Method of Inquiry + 933

sion of this and other narrative forms, see facts or themes or notions existing independent
Tedlock, Chapter 17, this volume.) "Fiction of the contexts in which they were found or pro-
writing," according to novelist Ernest Lock- duced-as if the story we have recorded, tran-
ridge (personal communication, 1998), "is us- scribed, edited, and written up in prose snippets
ing the imagination to discover and embody is the one and only true one: a "science" story.
truth." Social science writers who claim that Standard prose writing conceals the handprint of
their work is fiction privilege their imagina- the sociologist who produced the final written
tions, seeking to express their visions of social text.
scientific "truth." Usually they encase their sto- When people talk, moreover, whether as
ries-whether about themselves or a group or conversants, storytellers, informants, or inter-
culture-in settings they have studied eth- viewees, their speech is closer to poetry than it is
nographically; they display cultural norms to sociological prose (Tedlock, 1983 ). Writing up
through their characters. In addition to the interviews as poems, honoring the speaker's
techniques used by self-narrators (see above}, pauses, repetitions, alliterations, narrative strat-
ethnographic fiction writers might draw upon egies, rhythms, and so on, may ' actually better
devices such as alternative points of view, deep represent the speaker than the practice of quot-
characterization, third-person voice, and the ing in prose snippets. Further, poetic de-
omniscient narrator. (I do not think any eth- vices-rhythms, silences, spaces, breath points,
nographic fiction writers, yet, write from the alliterations, meter, cadence, assonance, rhyme,
point of view of the unreliable narrator; see and off-rhyme-engage the listener's body, even
Lockridge, 1987.) if the mind resists and denies. "Poetry is above all
There are some advantages and some disad- a concentration of the power of language which
vantages to claiming one's ethnographic writ- is the power of our ultimate relationship to ev-
ing is fiction. Staging qualitative research as fic- erything in the universe. It is as if forces we can
tion frees the author from some constraints, lay claim to in no other way become present to us
protects the author from criminal or other in sensuous form" (DeShazer, 1986, p. 138). Set-
charges, and may protect the identities of those tling words together in new configurations lets
studied. But competing in the publishing world us hear, see, and feel the world in new dimen-
of "literary fiction" is very difficult. Few suc- sions. Poetry is thus a practical and powerful
ceed. Moreover, if one's desire is to effect so- method for analyzing social worlds.
cial change through one's research, fiction is a "Louisa May's Story of Her Life" is an exam-
rhetorically poor writing strategy. Policy mak- ple of poetic construction that challenges
ers prefer materials that claim to be not "non- epistemological assumptions (Richardson, 1997). It
fiction" even, but "true research." is a 5-page narrative poem I created from a
Another evocative form is poetic representa- 36-page transcript of my in-depth interview with
tion. A poem, as Robert Frost articulates it, is "Louisa May," an unwed mother. In writing
"the shortest emotional distance between two Louisa May's story, I drew upon both scientific
points"-the speaker and the reader. Writing and literary criteria. This was a greater literary
sociological interviews as poetry, for example, challenge than a sociological one because Louisa
displays the role of the prose trope in constitut- May used no images or sensory words and very
ing knowledge. When we read or hear poetry, few idioms. The poem, therefore, had to build
we are continually nudged into recognizing upon other poetic devices, such as repetition,
that the text has been constructed. But all texts pauses, meter, rhyme, and off-rhyme. Without
are constructed-prose ones, too; therefore, putting words in her mouth, which would vio-
poetry helps problematize reliability, validity, late my sociological sensibilities, I used her
transparency, and "truth." voice, diction, hill-southern rhythms, and tone. I
Writing "data" as poetic representations re- wrote her life-as she told it to me-as a histori-
veals the constraining belief that the purpose of cally situated exemplar of sense making. Her life,
a social science text is to convey information as as she speaks it, is a "normal one." The political
934 + INTERPRETATION, EVALUATION, AND REPRESENTATION

subtext, as I wrote it, is "Mother Courage in as method, see Denzin, 1978; Flick, 1998. For
America." an application, see Statham, Richardson, &
Ethnographic drama is another evocative Cook, 1991). In triangulation, a researcher de-
way of shaping an experience without losing the ploys "different methods"-such as interviews,
experience. It can blend realist, fictional, and census data, and documents-to "validate"
poetic techniques; it can reconstruct the "sense" findings. These methods, however, carry the
of an event from multiple "as-lived" perspec- same domain assumptions, including the as-
tives; it can allow all the conflicting "voices" to sumption that there is a "fixed point" or "ob-
be heard, relieving the researcher of having to ject" that can be triangulated. But in
be judge and arbiter (Davies et a!., 1997; postmodernist mixed-genre texts, we do not tri-
Johnston, 1997); and it can give voice to what is angulate; we crystallize. We recognize that there
unspoken but present, for example, "cancer" as are far more than "three sides" from which to
portrayed in Paget's (1990) ethnographic drama approach the world.
or abortion as ilf Ellis and Bochner's (1992) I propose that the central imaginary for "va-
drama. When th~aterial to be displayed is in- lidity" for postmodernist texts is not the trian-
tractable, unruly, multisited, and emotionally gle-a rigid, fixed, two-dimensional object.
laden, drama is more likely to recapture the ex- Rather, the central imaginary is the crystal,
perience than is standard writing. which combines symmetry and substance with
Constructing drama raises the postmodern an infinite variety of shapes, substances, trans-
debates about "oral" and "written" texts. mutations, multidimensionalities, and angles of
Which comes first? Which one should be (is) approach. Crystals grow, change, alter, but are
privileged, and with what consequences? Why not amorphous. Crystals are prisms that re-
the bifurcation between "oral" and "written"? flect externalities and refract within themselves,
Originating in the lived experience, encoded as creating different colors, patterns, and arrays,
field notes, transformed into an ethnographic casting off in different directions. What we see
play, performed, taped-recorded, and then re- depends upon our angle of repose. Not triangu-
edited for publication, the printed script might lation, crystallization. In postmodernist mixed-
well be fancied the definitive or "valid" version, genre texts, we have moved from plane geome-
particularly to those who privilege the pub- try to light theory, where light can be both waves
lished over the "original," the performance, or and particles.
even the lived experience. What happens if we Crystallization, without losing structure, de-
accept this validity claim? Dramatic construc- constructs the traditional idea of "validity" (we
tion provides multiple sites of invention and po- feel how there is no single truth, we see how
tential contestation for validity, the blurring of texts validate themselves), and crystallization
oral and written texts, rhetorical moves, ethical provides us with a deepened, complex, thor-
dilemmas, and authority/authorship. It doesn't oughly partial, understanding of the topic. Para-
just "talk about" these issues, it is these issues doxically, we know more and doubt what we
(see Davies eta!., 1997; Johnston, 1997; Rich- know. Ingeniously, we know there is always
ardson, 1997). more to know.
A last evocative form to consider is mixed The construction and reception of the narra-
genres. The scholar draws freely in his or her tive poem mentioned above, "Louisa May's
productions from literary, artistic, and scientific Story of Her Life" (Richardson, 1997), is em-
genres, often breaking the boundaries of each of blematic of crystallization. That work genera tea
those as well. In these productions, the scholar alternate theories and perspectives for writing
might have different "takes" on the same topic, and for living, deconstructed traditional no-
what I think of as a postmodernist deconstruc- tions of validity, glancingly touching some pro-
tion of triangulation. jects, lighting others. My life has been deeply al-
In traditionally staged research, we valorize tered through the research and writing of the
"triangulation." (For discussion of triangulation poem, and "Louisa May" has touched wide and
 Writing: A Method of Inquiry + 93 5

diverse audiences, even inspiring some to Wolf, in A Thrice-Told Tale (1992), takes the
change their research and writing practices. same event and tells it as fictional story, field
In one section of Fields of Play (1997), I tell notes, and a social scientific paper. john Stewart,
two interwoven stories of "writing illegiti- in Drinkers, Drummers and Decent Folk (1989),
macy": Louisa May's story and the research writes poetry, fiction, ethnographic accounts,
story-its production, dissemination, recep- and field notes about Village Trinidad. In School-
tion, and consequences for me. There are mul- girl Fictions (1990), Valerie Walkerdine devel-
tiple illegitimacies in the stories: a child out of ops/displays the theme that "masculinity and
wedlock; poetic representation of research femininity are fictions which take on the status of
findings; a feminine voice in social sciences; fact" (p. xiii) by incorporating into the book
ethnographic research on ethnographers and journal entries, poems, essays, photographs of
dramatic representation of that research; emo- herself, drawings, cartoons, and annotated tran-
tional presence of the writer; and work scripts. Ruth Linden's Making Stories, Making
jouissance. Selves: Feminist Reflections on the Holocaust
I had thought the research story was com- (1992) intertwines autobiography, academic
plete, not necessarily the only story that could writing, and survivors' stories in a Helen
be told, but one that reflected fairly, honestly, Hooven Santmyer Prize in Women's Studies
and sincerely what my research experiences book, which was her dissertation. john Van
have been. I still believe that. But missing from Maanen's Tales from the Field (1988) presents
the research story, I came to realize, were the his research on police as realist, confessional,
personal, biographical experiences that led me and impressionist narratives. Patti Lather and
to author such a story. Chris Smithies's Troubling the Angels: Women
The idea of "illegitimacy," I have come to Living With HN/AIDS (1997) displays high the-
acknowledge, has had a compelling hold on ory, researchers' stories, women's support group
me. In my research journal I wrote, "My career transcripts, and historical and medical informa-
in the social sciences might be viewed as one tion, using innovative text layouts. john Dorst's
long adventure into illegitimacies." I asked my- The Written Suburb (1989) presents a geographic
self, Why am I drawn to constructing "texts of site as site, image, idea, discourse, and an assem-
illegitimacy," including the text of my aca- blage of texts. Stephen Pfohl's Death at the Para-
demic life? What is this struggle I have with the site Cafe (1992) employs collage strategies and
academy-being in it and against it at the same synchronic juxtapositions, blurring critical the-
time? How is my story like and unlike the sto- ory and militant art forms.
ries of others struggling to make sense of them- In some mixed-genre productions, the
selves, to retrieve suppressed selves, to act ethi- writer/artist roams freely around topics, break-
cally? ing our sense of the externality of topics, devel-
Refracting "illegitimacy" through allusions, oping our sense of how topic and self are twin
glimpses, extended views, I came to write a per- constructed. Susan Krieger's Social Science and
sonal essay, "Vespers," the final essay in Fields the Self: Personal Essays on an Art Form ( 19 91) is
of Play. "Vespers" located my academic life in a superb example. The book is "design ori-
childhood experiences and memories; it deep- ented," reflecting Krieger's attachment to
ened my knowledge of myself and has reso- Pueblo potters and Georgia O'Keeffe, and, as she
nated with others' experiences in academia. In says, it "looks more like a pot or a painting than
turn, the writing of "Vespers" has refracted, a hypothesis" (p. 120). Trinh T. Minh-ha's
again, giving me desire, strength, and enough Woman Native Other (1989) breaks down writ-
self-knowledge to narrativize other memories ing conventions within each of the essays that
and experiences-to give myself agency, to constitute the book, mixing poetry, self-reflec-
construct myself anew, for better or for worse. tion, feminist criticism, photographs, and quota-
We also see this crystallization process in tions to help readers experience postcoloniality.
several recent mixed-genre books. Margery In I've Known Rivers: Lives of Loss and Libera-
936 + INTERPRETATION, EVALUATION, AND REPRESENTATION

tion (1994), Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot uses fic- their discipline? (Would we ask these questions
tion-writing techniques and self-reflexivity to about students' learning a second language?) A
tell stories of being Mro-American and profes- related issue is, if students are taught writing as
sional. Anthologies also reflect these mixed gen- inquiry, what criteria should be brought to bear
res. My own book Fields of Play: Constructing upon their work? These are heady ethical, peda-
an Academic Life (1997) in its entirety tells the gogical, aesthetic, and practical questions. I
story of my intellectual and political struggles in struggle with them in my teaching, writing, and
academia through personal essays, dramas, po- collegial discussions. I have no definitive an-
ems, writing-stories, e-mail messages, and soci- swers, but I do have some thoughts on the is-
ology articles. Anthologies also present mixed sues.
genres. Some examples are Carolyn Ellis and Writing is a process of discovery. My purpose
Arthur Bochner's Composing Ethnography: Al- is not to turn us into poets, novelists, or drama-
ternative Forms of Qualitative Writing (1996a), tists-few of us will write well enough to suc-
Ellis and Michfel Flaherty's Investigating Sub- ceed in those competitive fields. Most of us, like
jectivity: Rese»,:ch on Lived Experience (1992), Poe, will be at best only almost poets. Rather,
Ruth Behar and Deborah Gordon's Women my intention is to encourage individuals to ac-
Writing Culture (1995). The book series Studies cept and nurture their own voices. The re-
in Symbolic Interaction, and the journal Quali- searcher's self-knowledge and knowledge of the
tative Inquiry mix genres in their pages. topic develop through experimentation with
point of view, tone, texture, sequencing, meta-
Whither and Whence? phor, and so on. Another skill, another lan-
guage-the student's own-is added to the stu-
The contemporary postmodernist context in dent's repertoire. The science-writing enterprise
which we work as qualitative researchers is a is demystified. The deepened understanding of
propitious one. It provides an opportunity for a Self deepens the text. Even the analysis paraly-
us to review, critique, and re-vision writing. Al- sis that afflicts some readers of postmodern-
though we are freer to present our texts in a ism is attenuated when writers view their work
variety of forms to diverse audiences, we have as process rather than as definitive representa-
different constraints arising from self-con- tion.
sciousness about claims to authorship, author- Students will not lose the language of science
ity, truth, validity, reliability. Self-reflexivity when they learn to write in other ways, any
brings to consciousness some of the complex more than students who learn a second language
political/ideological agendas hidden in our writ- lose their first (Y. S. Lincoln, personal communi-
ing. Truth claims are less easily validated now; cation, 1998). Rather, acquiring a second lan-
desires to speak "for" others are suspect. The guage enriches students in two ways: It gains
greater freedom to experiment with textual them entry into a new culrure and literature,
form, however, does not guarantee a better and it leads them to a deepened understanding
product. The opportunities for writing worthy of their first language, not just grammatically,
texts-books and articles that are "good but as a language that constructs how they view
reads"-are multiple, exciting, and demanding. the world.
But the work is harder. The guarantees are Writing in traditional ways does not prevent
fewer. There is a lot more for us to think about. us from writing in other ways for other audi-
One thing for us to think about is whether ences at other times (Denzin, 1994; Richardson,
writing CAP ethnography for publication is a 1990). There is no single way-much less one
luxury open only to those who have academic "right" way-of staging a text. Like wet clay, the
sinecure. Are the tenured doing a disservice to material can be shaped. Learning alternative
students by introducing them to these different ways of writing increases our repertoires, in-
forms of writing? Will teaching students creases the numbers and kinds of audiences we
hereticisms "deskill" them? Alienate them from might reach.

----
 Writing: A Method of Inquiry + 937

As I write this chapter, I imagine four scientific perspective? How has this per-
friendly audiences: graduate students, curious spective informed the construction of the
quantitative researchers, traditionally inclined text? (See "Writing Practices," below, for
qualitative researchers, and creative analytic some suggestions on how to accomplish
practitioners. I want to clarify and teach-and, this.)
yes, proselytize. 2. Aesthetic merit: Rather than reducing stan-
Who is your audience? What are your pur- dards, CAP ethnography adds another
poses? Understanding how to stage your writ- standard. Does this piece succeed aestheti-
ing rhetorically increases your chances of get- cally? Does the use of creative analytic
ting published and reaching your intended practices open up the text, invite interpre-
audiences. Deconstructing traditional writing tive responses? Is the text artistically
practices makes writers more conscious of writ- shaped, satisfying, complex, and not bor-
ing conventions and, therefore, more compe- ing? (Creative writing is a skill that can be
tently able to make choices. developed through reading, courses,
The new ways of writing do, however, in- workshops, and practice; see the sugges-
voke conversation about criteria for judging an tions listed in the "Writing Practices" sec-
ethnographic work-new or traditional. Tradi- tion.)
tional ethnographers of goodwill have legiti- 3. Reflexivity: Is the author cognizant of the
mate concerns about how their students' work epistemology of postmodernism? How did
will be evaluated if they choose to write CAP the author come to write this text? How
ethnography. I have no definitive answers to was the information gathered? Are there
ease their concerns, but I do have some ideas ethical issues? How has the author's sub-
and preferences. jectivity been both a producer and a prod-
I see the ethnographic project as humanly uct of this text? Is there adequate self-
situated, always filtered through human eyes awareness and self-exposure for the reader
and human perceptions, bearing both the limi- to make judgments about the point of
tations and the strengths of human feelings. view? Does the author hold him- or her-
Scientific superstructure is always resting on self accountable to the standards of know-
the foundation of human activity, belief, under- ing and telling of the people he or she has
standings. I emphasize ethnography as con- studied?
structed through research practices. Research 4. Impact: Does this affect me? Emotionally?
practices are concerned with enlarged under- Intellectually? Does it generate new ques-
standing. Science offers some research prac- tions? Move me to write? Move me to try
tices; literature, creative arts, memory work new research practices? Move me to ac-
(Davies, 1994; Davies eta!., 1997), and intro- tion?
spection (Ellis, 1991) offer still others. Re- 5. Expression of a reality: Does this text em-
searchers have many practices from which to body a fleshed out, embodied sense of
choose, and ought not be constrained by habits lived experience? Does it seem "true"-a
of other people's minds. credible account of a cultural, social, indi-
I believe in holding CAP ethnography to vidual, or communal sense of the "real"?
high and difficult standards; mere novelty does
not suffice. Here are five of the criteria I use These are five of my criteria. Science is one lens;
when reviewing papers or monographs submit- creative arts another. We see more deeply using
ted for social scientific publication. two lenses. I want to look through both lenses, to
see a "social science art form."
1. Substantive contribution: Does this piece I strongly disagree, then, with those who
contribute to our understanding of social claim ethnography should be a "science guild," a
life? Does the writer demonstrate a "craft" with "tacit rules," apprentices, trade "se-
deeply grounded (if embedded) social crets," and "disciplined," "responsible" journey-
938 + INTERPRETATION, EVALUATION, AND REPRESENTATION

men (i.e., professors) who enact rules that check others to publish. Sociological Quarterly, Sym-
"artistic pretensions and excesses" (see bolic Interaction, American Anthropologist,
Schwalbe, 1995; see also Richardson, 1996b). Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, journal
This medieval vision limits ethnographic explo- of Aging Studies, Qualitative Inquiry, Interna-
ration, patrols the boundaries of intellectual tional journal ofQualitative Research in Educa-
thought, and aligns qualitative research ideo- tion, Qualitative Studies in Psychology, Qualita-
logically with those who would discipline and tive Sociology, Waikato journal of Education,
punish postmodern ideas within social science. and Text and Performance Quarterly routinely
Policing, however, is always about bodies. It is publish CAP ethnography. The annuals Studies
always about real live people. Should the medi- in Symbolic Interaction and Cultural Studies
eval vision triumph, what real live people are showcase evocative writing. Publishers such as
likely to be excluded? Routledge, University of Chicago Press, Univer-
What I have learned from my teaching and sity of Michigan Press, Indiana University Press,
conversations withJtolleagues is this: Minorities University of Pennsylvania Press, Rutgers Uni-
within academia,~ncluding ethnic and racial, versity Press, Temple University Press, and Sage
postcolonial, gay and lesbian, physically chal- Publications regularly publish new ethnogra-
lenged, and returning students, find the turn to phy by both well-known and lesser-known au-
creative analytic practices as beckoning. These thors. AltaMira Press (formerly a division of
researchers desire the opportunity to be "re- Sage) boasts the excellent Ethnographic Alter-
sponsible" to the "guild" while honoring their natives book series, which is dedicated to quali-
responsibilities to their traditions, their cul- tative research that blurs the boundaries be-
tures, and their sense of the meaningful life. tween the social sciences and humanities. New
Welcoming these researchers creates an en- York University Press has launched the Qualita-
riched, diversified, socially engaged, nonhege- tive Studies in Psychology series, which is recep-
monic community of qualitative researchers. tive to creative-analytic texts. Trade and univer-
Everyone profits-the communities of origin sity presses are increasingly resistant to publish-
and identification and the qualitative research ing old-style monographs, and traditional eth-
community. The implications of race and gen- nographers are writing more reflexively and
der would be stressed not because it would be self-consciously (see Thorne, 1993). Even those
"politically correct," but because race and gen- opposed to postmodernism legitimate it through
der are axes through which symbolic and actual dialogue (Whyte, 1992). Throughout the social
worlds have been constructed. Members of sciences, convention papers include trans-
nondominant worlds know that, and would in- gressive presentations. Entire conferences are
sist that this knowledge be honored (see devoted to experimentation, such as the "Rede-
Margolis & Romero, 1998). The blurring of hu- signing Ethnography" conference at the Univer-
manities and social sciences would be welcomed sity of Colorado and the Year 2000 Couch-
not because it is "trendy," but because the blur- Stone Symbolic Interaction Symposium.
ring coheres more truly with the life senses and At least three well-respected interpretive
learning styles of so many. This new qualitative programs-at the University of Illinois (under
community could, through its theory, analytic Norman Denzin), the University of South
practices, and diverse membership, reach be- Florida (under Arthur Bochner and Carolyn
yond academia, teaching all of us about social Ellis), and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas
injustice and methods for alleviating it. What (with Andrea Fontana and Kate Hausbreck)-
qualitative researcher interested in social life teach creative analytic practices. The Ohio State
would not feel enriched by membership in such University's Folklore Studies (under Amy Shu-
a culturally diverse and inviting community? man) and its Cultural Studies in Education
Furthermore, CAP ethnography is now Ph.D. program (under Patti Lather) privilege
firmly established within the social sciences. postpositivism. Dissertations violating the tra-
There are prestigious places for students and ditional five-chapter, social science writing style
 Writing: A Method of Inquiry + 939

format are accepted in the United States, Can- torting, and alienating. Our task is to find con-
ada, England, New Zealand, and Australia. crete practices through which we can construct
Elliot Eisner (1996), art educator and past pres- ourselves as ethical subjects engaged in ethical
ident of the American Educational Research ethnography-inspiring to read and to write.
Association, has gone further. He proposes that Some of these practices involve working within
novels should be accepted as Ph.D. disserta- theoretical schemata (sociology of knowledge,
tions in education. All of these changes in aca- feminism, critical race theory, constructionism,
demic practices are signs of paradigm changes. poststructuralism) that challenge grounds of au-
In the 1950s, the sociology of science was a thority; writing on topics that matter, personally
new, reflexively critical area. Today, the sociol- and collectively; jouissance; experimenting with
ogy of science undergirds theory, methods, and different writing formats and audiences simulta-
interdisciplinary science studies. In the 1960s, neously; locating ourselves in multiple dis-
"gender" emerged as a theoretical perspective. courses and communities; developing critical lit-
Today, gender studies is one of the largest (if eracy; finding ways to write/present/teach that
not the largest) subfield in the social sciences. are less hierarchal and univocal; revealing insti-
In part, science studies and gender studies tutional secrets; using positions of authority to
thrived because they identified normative as- increase diversity, both in academic appoint-
sumptions of social science that falsely limited ments and in journal publications; self-reflexivi-
knowledge. They spoke "truly" to the everyday ty; giving in to synchronicity; asking for what we
experiences of social scientists. The new areas want, like cats; not flinching from where the
hit us where we lived-in our work and in our writing takes us, emotionally or spiritually; and
bodies. They offered alternative perspectives honoring the embodiedness and spatiality of our
for understanding the experienced world. labors.
Today, the postmodernist critique is having What creative analytic practices in ethnogra-
the same impact on the social sciences that sci- phy will eventually produce, I do not know. But I
ence studies and gender have had, and for simi- do know that the ground has been staked, the
lar reasons. Postmodernism identifies unspeci- foundation laid, the scaffolding erected, and di-
fied assumptions that hinder us in our search verse and adventurous settlers have moved on in.
for understanding "truly," and it offers differ-
ent practices that work. We feel its "truth"-its ... and Forever After
moral, intellectual, aesthetic, emotional, intu-
itive, embodied pull. Each researcher is likely The Handbook editors really do want all the
to respond to that pull differently, which contributors to predict the future of qualitative
should lead to writing that is more diverse, research. I thought I had. Oh, how I resist! But
more author centered, less boring, and hum- here goes.
bler. These are propitious times. Some even Forty years ago, I was an undergraduate who
speak of their work as spiritual. detested the yearlong course "History of West-
ern Civilization"-2,500 years, five continents,
And Thence 700 countries, six trillion names, dates, wars,
and places. I thought the final would decimate
The ethnographic life is not separable from me. But fortune smiled. In addition to the zillions
the Self. Who we are and what we can of "objective" questions, we were given a take-
be-what we can study, how we can write home essay: "What is the future of history?" I
about that which we study-is tied to how a said-in 10 pages or less-that the future of his-
knowledge system disciplines itself and its tory was both toward unity and toward diversity.
members, its methods for claiming authority I got an A+ on that essay. I think I'll stick with it.
over both the subject matter and its members. That's the way I see the future of qualitative re-
We have inherited some ethnographic rules search, too. We will be clearer about its domain
that are arbitrary, narrow, exclusionary, dis- and more welcoming of diverse representations.
940 • INTERPRETATION, EVALUATION, AND REPRESENTATION

The domain's metaphor will be the "text"- 1. In traditional social scientific writing, the
or some other equally outrageously encompass- metaphor for theory is that it is a "building"
ing image-but the meaning and construction (structure, foundation, construction, decons-
of text will far exceed the written page, the com- truction, framework, grand, and so on). Con-
puter screen, and even the hypertext: two- sider a different metaphor, such as "theory as a
dimensional, three-dimensions, refractive, lay- tapestry" or "theory as an illness." Write a para-
ered texts. Discussions of the boundaries be- graph about "theory" using your metaphor. Do
tween literature and science will seem quaint, as you "see" differently and "feel" differently
"writing"-in the future understood as any tex- about theorizing using an unusual metaphor?
tual construction-will be routinely understood 2. Consider alternative sensory metaphors
as a "method of inquiry." And, therefore, it will for "knowledge" other than the heliocentric
have to be challenged! one mentioned in the text. What happens when
Oh, dear! you rethink!resense "knowledge" as situated in
voice? In touch?
~ 3. Look at one of your papers and highlight
your metaphors and images. What are you say-
• Writing Practices
ing through metaphors that you did not realize
you were saying? What are you reinscribing? Do
you want to? Can you find different metaphors
Writing, the creative effort, should come that change how you "see" ("feel") the material?
first-at least for some part of every day of your relationship to it? Are your mixed meta-
your life. It is a wonderful blessing if you will phors pointing to confusion in yourself or to so-
use it. You will become happier, more enlight- cial science's glossing over of ideas?
ened, alive, impassioned, light hearted and 4. Take a look at George Lakoff and Mark
generous to everybody else. Even your health Johnson's Metaphors We Live By (1980). It is a
will improve. Colds will disappear and all the wonderful book, a compendium of examples of
other ailments of discouragement and bore-
metaphors in everyday life and how they affect
dom.
our ways of perceiving, thinking, and acting.
Brenda Ueland, If You
What everyday metaphors are shaping your
Want to W?-ite, 1938/1987
knowing/writing?
!'lUn
In what follows, I suggest some ways of using ·. ,-&Ui.
Writing Formats
writing as a method of knowing. I have chosen
exercises that have been productive for students
1. Choose a journal article that exemplifies
because they demystify writing, nurture the re-
the mainstream writing conventions of your dis-
searcher's voice, and serve the process of dis-
cipline. How is the argument staged? Who is the
covery. I wish I could guarantee them to bring
presumed audience? How does the paper in-
good health as well. The practices are organized
scribe ideology? How does the author claim au-
around topics discussed in the text.
thority over the material? Where is the author?
Where are you in this paper? Who are the sub-
Metaphor jects and who are the objects of research?
2. Choose a journal article that exemplifies
Using old, worn-out metaphors, although excellence in qualitative research. How has the
easy and comfortable, after a while invites article built upon normative social science writ-
stodginess and stiffness. The stiffer you get, the ing? How is authority claimed? Where is the au-
less flexible you are. Your ideas get ignored. If thor? Where are you in the article? Who are the
your writing is cliched, you'll not "stretch your subjects and who are the objects of research?
own imagination" (Ouch! Hear the cliche of 3. Choose a paper you have written for a
pointing out the cliche!) and you'll bore people. class or that you have published that you think is
 Writing: A Method of Inquiry + 94 1

pretty good. How did you follow the norms of them. I want to think of them as fairly accu-
your discipline? Were you conscious of doing rate renditions of what I see, hear, feel,
so? How did you stage your paper? What parts taste, and so on. I stay close to the scene as I
did the professor/reviewer laud? How did you experience it through my senses.
depend upon those norms to carry your argu- • Methodological notes (MN): These are
ment? Did you elide some difficult areas messages to myself regarding how to col-
through vagueness, jargon, calls to authorities, lect "data"-who to talk to, what to wear,
or other rhetorical devices? What voices did when to phone, and so on. I write a lot of
you exclude in your writing? Who is the audi- these because I like methods, and I like to
ence? Where are the subjects in the paper? keep a process diary of my work.
Where are you? How do you feel about the pa- • Theoretical notes (TN): These are hunches,
per now? About your process of constructing hypotheses, poststructuralist connections,
it? critiques of what I am doing/thinking/see-
I 111. ll . ing. I like writing these because they open
Creative Analytic my field note texts to alternative interpre-
tations and a critical epistemological
Writing Practices
stance. They provide a way of keeping me
from being hooked on one view of reality.
1. Join or start a writing group. This could • Personal notes (PN): These are uncensored
be a writing support group, a creative writing feeling statements about the research, the
group, a poetry group, a dissertation group, or people I am talking to, my doubts, my anxi-
another kind of group. (On dissertation and ar- eties, my pleasures. I want all my feelings
ticle writing, see Becker, 1986; Fox, 1985; out on paper because I know they are af-
Richardson, 1990; Wolcott, 1990.) fecting what/how I lay claim to know. I also
2. Work through a creative writing guide- know they are a great source for hypothe-
book. Natalie Goldberg (1986, 1990), Rust ses; if I am feeling a certain way in a setting,
Hills (1987), Brenda Ueland (1938/1987), and it is likely that others might feel that way
Deena Weinstein (1993) all provide excellent too. Finally, writing personal notes is a way
guides. for me to know myself better, a way of us-
3. Enroll in a creative writing workshop or ing writing as method of inquiry into the
class. These experiences are valuable for both self.
beginning and experienced researchers.
4. Use "writing up" your field notes as an 5. Keep a journal. In it, write about your feel-
opportunity to expand your writing vocabu- ings about your work. This not only frees up
lary, habits of thought, and attentiveness to your writing, it becomes the "historical record"
your senses, and as a bulwark against the censo- for the writing of a narrative of the Self or a writ-
rious voice of science. Where better to develop ing-story about the writing process.
your sense of self, your voice, than in the pro- 6. Write a writing autobiography. This
cess of doing your research? Apply creative would be the story of how you learned to write:
writing skills to your field notes. You may need the dicta of English classes (topic sentences? out-
to rethink what you've have been taught about lines? the five-paragraph essay?), the dicta of so-
objectiviry, science, and the ethnographic pro- cial science professors, your experiences with
ject. What works for me is to give different la- teachers' comments on your papers, how and
bels to different content. Building on the work where you write now, your idiosyncratic "writ-
of Glaser and Strauss (1967), I use four catego- ing needs," your feelings about writing and
ries, which you may find of value: about the writing process. (This is an exercise
that Arthur Bochner uses.)
• Observation notes (ON): These are as 7. If you wish to experiment with evocative
concrete and detailed as I am able to make writing, a good place to begin is by transforming
942 + INTERPRETATION, EVALUATION, AND REPRESENTATION

your field notes into drama. See what ethno- Then step back and look at the narrative from
graphic rules you are using (such as fidelity to your disciplinary perspective and insert into the
the speech of the participants, fidelity in the or- narrative-beginning, midsections, end, wher-
der of the speakers and events) and what literary ever-relevant analytic statements or refer-
ones you are invoking (such as limits on how ences, using a different typescript, alternative
long a speaker speaks, keeping the "plot" mov- page placement, split pages, or other ways to
ing along, developing character through ac- mark the text. The layering can be multiple,
tions). Writing dramatic presentations accentu- with different ways of marking different theo-
ates ethical considerations. If you doubt that, retical levels, theories, speakers, and so on.
contrast writing up an ethnographic event as a (This is an exercise that Carolyn Ellis uses.)
"typical" event with writing it as a play, with you 12. Try some other strategy for writing new
and your hosts cast in roles that will be per- ethnography for social scientific publications.
formed before others. Who has ownership of Try the "seamless" text, in which previous liter-
spoken words? How is authorship attributed? ature, theory, and methods are placed in textu-
What if people d~not like how they are charac- ally meaningful ways, rather than in disjunctive
terized? Are courtesy norms being violated? Ex- sections (for a excellent example, see Bochner,
periment here with both oral and written ver- 1997); try the "sandwich" text, in which tradi-
sions of your drama. tional social science themes are the "white
8. Experiment with transforming an in- bread" around the "filling" (C. Ellis, personal
depth interview into a poetic representation. communication, April27, 1998); or try an "epi-
Try using only the words, rhythms, figures of logue" explicating the theoretical analytic work
speech, breath points, pauses, syntax, and dic- of the creative text (see Eisner, 1996).
tion of the speaker. Where are you in the poem? 13. Consider a fieldwork setting. Consiper
What do you know about the interviewee and the various subject positions you have or have
~
about yourself that you did not know before you had within it. For example, in a store you might
wrote the poem? What poetic devices have you be a salesclerk, customer, manager, feminist,
sacrificed in the name of science? capitalist, parent, child, and so on. Write about
9. Experiment with writing narratives of the the setting (or an event in the setting) from sev-
self. Keep in mind Barbara Tuchman's warning: eral different subject positions. What do you
"The writer's object is-or should be-to hold "know" from the different positions? Next, let
the reader's attention .... I want the reader to the different points of view dialogue with each
turn the page and keep on turning to the end. other. What do you discover through these dia-
This is accomplished only when the narrative logues?
moves steadily ahead, not when it comes to a 14. Consider a paper you have written (or
weary standstill, overlaced with every item un- your field notes). What have you left out? Who
covered in the research" (in New York Times, is not present in this text? Who has been re-
February 2, 1989). pressed or marginalized? Rewrite the text from
10. Try writing a text using different type- that point of view.
faces, font sizes, and textual placement. How 15. Write your "data" in three different
have the traditional ways of using print affected ways-for example, as a narrative account, as a
what you know and how you know it? poetic representation, and as readers' theater.
11. Write a "layered text" (see Lather & What do you know in each rendition that you
Smithies, 1997; Ronai, 1992). The layered text did not know in the other renditions? How do
is a strategy for putting yourself into your text the different renditions enrich each other?
and putting your text into the literatures and 16. Write a narrative of the Self from your
traditions of social science. Here is one possibil- point of view (such as something that happened
ity. First, write a short narrative of the Self about in your family or in a seminar). Then interview
some event that is especially meaningful to you. another patticipant (such as family or seminar
 Writing: A Method of Inquiry + 943

member) and have that person tell you his or from that which resonates with your life nurtures
her story of the event. See yourself as part of a more integrated life.
the other person's story in the same way he or 20. Different forms of writing are appropri-
she is part of your story. How do you rewrite ate for different audiences and different occa-
your story from the other person's point of sions. Try writing the same piece of research for
view? (fhis is an exercise Carolyn Ellis uses.) an academic audience, a trade audience, the pop-
17. Collaborative writing is a way to see be- ular press, policy makers, research hosts, and so
yond one's own naturalisms of sryle and atti- on (see Richardson, 1990). This is an especially
tude. This is an exercise that I have used in my powerful exercise for dissertation students who
teaching, but it would be appropriate for a may want to share their results in a "user-
writing group as well. Each member writes a friendly" way with those they studied.
story of his or her life. It could be a feminist 21. Write writing-stories (see Richardson,
story, a success story, quest story, cultural story, 1997), or reflexive accounts of how you hap-
professional socialization story, realist tale, pened to write pieces you have written. Your
confessional tale, or another kind of story. All writing-stories can be about disciplinary politics,
persons' stories are photocopied for the group. departmental events, friendship networks, colle-
The group is then broken into subgroups (I pre- gial ties, family, and personal biographical expe-
fer groups of three), and each subgroup collab- riences. Writing-stories situate your work in con-
orates on writing a new story, the collective texts, tying what can be a lonely and seemingly
story of its members. The collaboration can separative task to the ebbs and flows of your life,
take any form: drama, poetry, fiction, narrative your self. Writing these stories reminds us of the
of the selves, realism, whatever the subgroup continual cocreation of the self and social sci-
chooses. The collaboration is shared with the ence.
entire group. All members then write about
their feelings about the collaboration and what Willing is doing something you know al-
happened to their stories, their lives, in the pro- ready-there is no new imaginative under-
standing in it. And presently your soul gets
cess.
18. Memory work (see Davies, 1994; frightfully sterile and dry because you are so
quick, snappy, and efficient about doing one
Davies eta!., 1997) is another collaborative re-
thing after another that you have no time for
search and writing strategy. Stories shared in
your own ideas to come in and develop and
the group are discussed and then rewritten,
gently shine.
with attention paid to the discourses that are
Brenda Ueland, If You
shaping the stories in each of their tellings. As Want to Write, 1938!1987
more people tell their stories, individuals re-
member more details of their own stories, or
develop new stories. Participants discover what
their stories have in common, perhaps even
writing what Bronwyn Davies (1994) calls a • References
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19. Consider a part of your life outside of
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