UNLATCHING THE GATE: REALISING MY SCHOLARSHIP OF LIVING INQUIRY
ABSTRACT
In writing this thesis, I address the "new scholarships" identified by
Ernest Boyer and Donald Schon . In particular, I seek to make a contribution
to an emerging "scholarship of inquiry" in which - in the spirit of the
poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1934) - the focus is on living the questions
rather than seeking answers. I do so through the self-study of four strands
of my practice: as a man, in loving relationships, in search of healing
and as an educator.
The thesis is both an account of my learning in these areas and an action
research inquiry in its own right as, over the course of two years, I
sustain a cyclical process of writing and reflection, searching for connections,
contradictions and tensions between the various strands.
In its manner of presentation, the thesis responds to the "crisis of representation"
identified by Denzin and Lincoln by using what Eisner calls "alternative
forms of data representation". The stories of living inquiry are self-reflective
narratives of lived experience including "artistically rendered forms"
such as poetry, creative writing, paintings, sculpture and audio recordings,
where these help to convey something of the emotional, aesthetic and spiritual
qualities inherent in the inquiries.
Throughout the thesis I develop the idea of living inquiry, a holistic
approach in which all aspects of life are potentially available as sources
of learning. Living inquiry is a form of action research embracing first,
second and third person inquiry. It consciously avoids adopting any single
method, preferring Feyerabend's argument that there are no general solutions
and that the best chance of advancing knowledge comes from the intuitive
use of a pluralistic methodology
Agreeing with Lyotard that "the [postmodern] artist and the writer, are
working without rules in order to formulate the rules of what will have
been done", I realise my scholarship of living inquiry by reviewing the
text to identify twelve distinctive ontological and epistemological standards
of judgement and criteria of validity and by showing how they are both
embodied in, and emerge from, my practice.
As the thesis draws to a close, eschewing the notion of a generalisable
theory in favour of one that is situated and particular, I also identify
six underlying principles that inform my continuing life of inquiry:
*trusting the primacy of my own lived experience as the bedrock of inquiry,
whilst remaining open to the world of ideas and to what others have to
offer.
*valuing the originality of mind and critical judgement inherent in my
own forms of sense-making and knowledge creation and the wide variety
of forms of representation that they generate
*exercising my will to meaning to move me towards what brings a sense
of significance and purpose to my life and to clarify my vocation as a
healer and educator
*making an existential choice of optimism, of doing my best, of striving
to make things better or to make the best of any given situation for myself
and with others
*refusing to subsume my life of inquiry within any prescribed form, "following
my bliss" to find my own path as a unique and eccentric human being
*communicating and accounting to others for my life of inquiry as an individual
claiming originality and exercising my judgement responsibly with universal
intent.
CONTENTS
You can download the PhD in chapters which are in a Word 98 format.
The page numbers and footnotes may change if you open in a different format.
Title Page
Frontpiece
Contents
Acknowledgements
Abstract
Prelude: Go I know not whither, bring back I know not what
Introduction: Ending and beginning
Chapter One: Living Inquiry - SEE NEXT LINE>
Chapter One: Living Inquiry REPEAT - Please note that this is in PDF format because there are problems in downloading the images contained in the original WORD file
Interlude one: Learning from the writing
Chapter Two: The Men's Room
Interlude 11: The Space between
Chapter Three: Postcards from the edge
Interlude III: Writing an Abstract
Men in Learning Organisations - Powerpoint Slides
Chapter Four: Healing Journeys
Interlude IV: The point of no return
Chapter Five: Reshaping my professional identity
Interlude V: Turning for home
Chapter Six: Living Inquiry (Reprise)
Ethical considerations
Bibliography
Appendix A: Police Stories
Appendix B: The Future for Men at Work
Appendix C: Jumping Mouse
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