Re: ambiguity: I've always enjoyed playing with the idea of "gnowing" (vs.
knowing), drawing on the gnostic traditions of developing understanding
through esoteric methods including embodied practices such as movement
ritual and meditation.
Jeff Friedman
Rutgers
> 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:
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=performsocsci&A=1
>
>
>
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