I am watchful of definitions (for ambiguity, for
example) which are either/or. Better, all of the
above.
If you look for a binary, you will find one (faces or
a vase; male or female). Suddenly, we are counting
again, dividing the 'evidence',then evaluating it.
Back where we started from?
Cheers,
Kip
--- Zoë Fitzgerald-Pool <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Hi all,
> Keats thought that he discovered ambiguous thinking
> - and the term 'negative
> capability' was coined, but my own hunch that there
> is something of
> power/gender at play in the irritable reaching after
> external facts and
> measurable reason. How big is yours etcetera?
>
> In my research study I am also exploring ambiguity
> in states of awareness in
> therapeutic contexts, and I am employing ambiguous
> images - beginning with
> Edgar Rubin's ambiguous faces/vase picture.
> I am fascinated by the power within ambiguity and
> states of not knowing. One
> of my favourite quotes is from the Tao te Ching -
> 'Thirty spokes around the hub
> In its nothingness is the wheel's effectiveness.
> The potter hollows out the clay to fashion the pot
> In its emptiness is the pot's effectiveness'
>
> I have been much influenced in my work by Milton
> Erickson's ambiguous word
> play - who pioneered ambiguity and not-knowing in
> the service of the client
> - very effectively 'as your unconscious mind knows
> much much more than your
> conscious mind, as your conscious mind does not even
> know how much it
> does'nt know'.
> Look forwards to hearing others' views on this
> topic!
> Slainte
> Zoë Fitzgerald-Pool
>
>
>
> Zoë Fitzgerald-Pool
>
>
> >From: Sabi Redwood <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: Performative Social Science
> <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: On Ambiguity
> >Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2007 13:10:39 +0100
> >
> >Thank you, Kip.
> >
> >I like your concept of ambiguity as method (even
> for textual
> >representations of research) because I am tired of
> the current rage to
> >close down possibilities for interpretation so that
> we can produce
> >'findings', which can be pinned down even more
> securely through the
> >metasyntheses of many findings followed by
> systematic evaluations. It robs
> >readers of their agency to read and think, and
> turns them into passive
> >recipients of bite-size knowledge. These practices
> do not stimulate or
> >educate, they simply stupefy. I would argue that
> such practices are
> >ethically dubious. Ambiguity has the potential to
> leave things open for
> >other, maybe even competing, interpretations which
> is more likely to enable
> >readers to agree, disagree, or come up with other
> interpretations. Readers/
> >viewers/ listeners become authors instead of being
> relieved of their
> >responsibility to decide.
> >
> >Sabi
> >
> >
> >Sabi Redwood
> >Senior Lecturer
> >Institute of Health & Community Studies
> >Bournemouth University
> >
> >________________________________
> >
> >From: Performative Social Science on behalf of Kip
> Jones
> >Sent: Fri 06/04/2007 10:38
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: On Ambiguity
> >
> >
> >
> >I participated in the AHRC Consultation Exercise on
> >the forthcoming 'Beyond Text: Sounds, Voices,
> Images
> >and Objects' programme of research
>
>(http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/apply/research/sfi/ahrcsi/beyond_text_sounds_voices_images_objects.asp
> >) held at the Royal Society of Art in London last
> >week.
> >
> >The word of the day was 'ambiguity'. The audience
> >collectively responded to it with great collective
> >warmth and a sense of shared familiarity. I like
> this
> >as a concept for PSS. To me, it means knowledge
> >production which is open and permeable,
> >non-traditional, one that invites an audience in to
> >participate, to become involved, to turn into
> artists
> >themselves.
> >
> >Researcher/artists can gain a great deal from the
> >concept of ambiguity as method. "Findings" in the
> >traditional sense would be sidelined or even
> banished.
> > Dissemination would become method. Researchers
> would
> >move from the safety of 'knowing' to the
> uncertainty
> >of 'not knowing' (Heidegger). Data would return to
> >its place of importance as resources for
> explorations
> >of multiple understandings and keys for further
> >engagement by wider communities beyond academia.
> >Knowledge would be constructed socially in a
> >relational way within a participatory society. The
> >researcher would become a gatherer, a facilitator,
> a
> >curator, a Wizard of Oz. Text would become only one
> >tool within a toolbox of many instruments. Silence
> >would be golden.
> >
> >I hope that the AHRC puts its money into ambiguity.
> >
> >Cheers,
> >Kip
> >
> >Dr Kip Jones
> >Reader in Qualitative Social Science
> >Centre for Qualitative Research
> >Institute of Health & Community Studies
> >Bournemouth University United Kingdom
> >*************************
> >Website: www.kipworld.net
> >*****************************************
> >To join the PerformSocSci newsgroup go to:
>
>http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=performsocsci&A=1
> >
> >
> >
>
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>
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Dr Kip Jones
Reader in Qualitative Social Science
Centre for Qualitative Research
Institute of Health & Community Studies
Bournemouth University United Kingdom
*************************
Website: www.kipworld.net
*****************************************
To join the PerformSocSci newsgroup go to:
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