Creating Spaces of Inquiry and Disruptions: Narrative Insights into a Reading Group.

Authors

  • Simmee Chung
  • Associate Professor Lee Schaefer University of Saskatchewan in the College of Kinesiology.
  • Pam Steeves University of Alberta
  • Adrià Paredes University of Barcelona
  • Vera Caine University of Alberta
  • Jean Clandinin University of Alberta

Keywords:

autobiographical, community, pragmatist scholarship, reading I group, narrative inquiry

Abstract

This paper is an autobiographical study of six university educators/researchers who participated in an ongoing four-year reading group focused on the writing of pragmatist scholars. In order to highlight key distinctions among well-known forms of reading groups and the reading group under study, we differentiate between these groups. Drawing on a table metaphor for engaging in dialogue as outlined by Arendt (1958) and Greene (1988), we highlight selected fragments from our dialogues in order to discern seven central features of the reading group. As narrative inquirers, we live, tell, and  re-imagine stories to live by in relation to the different books we read, as well as with each other. Being a chosen community (Lindeman Nelson, 1995), we share underpinnings of what makes this reading group sustainable, and generative, as we view reading and engaging with each other as a form of re/search. Our work as a reading group became a way to create spaces of inquiry and to dwell within disruptions.

Author Biographies

Simmee Chung

Simmee Chung, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Concordia University of Edmonton. Her work focuses on intergenerational, multi-perspectival narrative inquiry research.    

Associate Professor Lee Schaefer, University of Saskatchewan in the College of Kinesiology.

Pam Steeves, PhD, is a former Adjunct Professor at the CRTED in the Faculty of Education at University of Alberta. Her work as a narrative inquirer focuses on continuing identity formation in transition. 

Pam Steeves, University of Alberta

Pam Steeves, PhD, is a former Adjunct Professor at the CRTED in the Faculty of Education at University of Alberta. Her work as a narrative inquirer focuses on continuing identity formation in transition.

Adrià Paredes , University of Barcelona

Adrià Paredes is a Doctoral Student and Teacher Educator in the Faculty of Education at the University of Barcelona. His research is focused on narrative approaches to teaching methods.

Vera Caine , University of Alberta

Vera Caine PhD, RN Vera Caine is a Professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta. Her work focuses on the methodological development of narrative inquiry.

Jean Clandinin, University of Alberta

Professor Emerita at the University of Alberta. 

Downloads

Published

2022-09-11

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 1 (2021): Leaning into disequilibrium

Section

Articles