The Sage Handbook of Social Constructionist Practice. Группа авторов
St. Pierre, 2005). Excellent compendiums of this work are found in edited volumes by Ellis and Bochner, Composing ethnography (1996) and Bochner and Ellis, Ethnograpically speaking (2002).
More radical in its challenge to realist representation is the work of social scientists who have turned to fiction as a means of inquiry. The enormously expanded range of expression allowed by fictional traditions enable them to illuminate their subject matter in what are often seen as more effective and penetrating ways than traditional empirical study. Pfohl's (1992), Death at the Parasite Café was a courageous and innovative entry into the professional literature – at once serious and playful. Also adventuresome are dialogues between fictitious characters. For example, in Michael Mulkay's (1985) groundbreaking work, fictional characters, Marks and Spencer, along with inebriated participants at the Nobel ceremonies, dispute about chemistry, in a parody of issues in sociology. Exploration now abounds. For example, Diversi (1998) has used short stories to provide a glimpse of street life for homeless youth in Brazil, and Muñoz (2014) has employed fictional stories to explore dimensions of silence in interpersonal communication.
Poetry has long been viewed in the culture more generally as a way of communicating wisdom, insights, or passions in more powerful, economic, and more highly nuanced ways than prose. To explore these potentials in social science, for example, Mary Breheny (2012) has provided a poetic representation of aging; Anne Görlich (2016) has introduced us to the lives of adolescent dropouts, and Laurel Richardson has used experimental writing to illuminate her life in Fields of play (1997). As an alternative to authoring their own poems, other social scientists have drawn from the words of others – typically those to whom they wish to give voice – to form a poetic integration. For example, Steven Hartnett (2003) has provided insight into prison life through the poems of inmates. For more detailed accounts of the use of poetry in social research see Richardson and St. Pierre (2005), and Faulkner (2009). More on the performative use of text in general can be found in Pelias (2014), and Gergen and Gergen (2012).
Embodied Performance
The blend of activism and performance has a long history in the culture of protest. The Brazilian theater practitioner and political activist, Augusto Boal (1995), is noteworthy in opening the way to blending embodied performance with social theory, and he has inspired many to follow. For example, Jonathan Shailor in his work in prisons uses performative methods to create change in the lives of inmates (2010). Also illustrative is the theatrical work of Anna Deavere Smith on youth going to prison (2019), Mary Gergen on women and aging (2001), and Anita Woodley (2015), an inspiring storyteller and creator of ethnodramas, in her role as Mama Juggs on breast cancer and body image. Tami Spry, who has a special concern with Native American lives, also offers wisdom and guidance to those who may be drawn to the potentials of performance (2001, 2011). A major innovator in performance studies is the East Side Institute in New York City, where dramatic productions are integral to educational, therapeutic and community-building functions (Holzman, 1999; Newman, 1996). From this perspective, the performative nature of human relationships is implicated in their doing, and thus, a performative analysis is coherent with the drama of everyday life.
However, there is also increasing movement toward full-blown performance. For example, Johnny Saldaña, an educator and musician, has transformed an aspect of his life story into an hour-long theatrical piece, ‘Second Chair’, during which he plays music as well as speaks lines (Saldaña, 2011). Organizational behavior scholar, Frank Barrett, a former professional jazz musician, has developed a brilliant musical presentation involving audience participation, to illustrate the creation of meaning through collaboration (2012).
Possibly because of the far greater demands involved (e.g. multiple performers, costumes, sets) the deployment of theatrical plays as social inquiry has not been well developed. One of the most salutary inspirations is the work of Gray and Sinding (2002), in which women with metastasized breast cancer both wrote and performed a play inviting others, especially medical personnel, to treat them as whole persons, in contrast to reducing their identities to their diseases. Park (2009) and Norris (2010) have shown how play building can be used as a form of action research. As mentioned, Kip Jones has been at the forefront of this effort to use film as a form of performative inquiry (Hearing and Jones, 2018).
From the Visual to the Visionary
Given the longstanding assumption that photographs provide the unvarnished truth about their subject matter, it is surprising that outside the tradition of visual sociology, so little use has been made of photography in the social sciences. The performative movement lends new life to this medium, but with an understanding of photography as both interpretive and value invested (Allen, 2011; Allen, 2012; Miller, 2016). To sample the innovative use of the medium, Newbury and Hoskins (2010) gave adolescent girls, who were drug users, digital cameras to explore and portray their life conditions and potentials. In their photovoice work on Parkinson's disease, Hermanns et al. (2015) asked their participants to take photos of everyday challenges related to the disease, and then engaged them in dialogue about the photos. Such combining of photography with other forms of representation is increasingly common. Mannay (2010) has combined photos, mapping, and collage production in her study of the experiences of mothers and daughters in a social housing estate. Also see Lawrence-Lightfoot and Davis for their pioneering work on portraiture methodology (1997). Brooks (2017) has elaborated on the importance of portraiture in its contributions of aesthetics to performative inquiry.
The development of digital video devices has been a strong invitation to explore filmic representation in the social sciences. The aforementioned works of Wiseman and Livingston opened the door. Kip Jones’ prize-winning film, Rufus Stone (https://vimeo.com/109360805) is testimony to a continuing tradition of excellence. The project was based on narrative materials collected and synthesized by Jones. The aim was also to empower older lesbians and gay men in rural areas through participatory action research. Kenneth Gergen (2018) has turned to video to create what he calls an evocative ethnography of life in the contemporary digital world. Still other scholars have turned directly to You Tube to reach large audiences of viewers. For example, Kitrina Douglas (2012) offers performative videos in anti-psychiatry and feminism in song form. Other efforts can be found in the multi-media journal, Liminalities.
These various endeavors in textual, embodied, and visual performance scarcely exhaust the range of innovative explorations now extant. For example, Blumenfeld-Jones (2008) describes the uses and potentials of dance in performative social science; Glenda Russell and Janis Bohan (1999) have demonstrated the power of choral music in the politics of change. Bartlett (2013) has used cartoons as a form of inquiry. Kuttner et al. (2018) have combined cartoons with rap music as part of their research work. There are also numerous ways in which scholars have combined various forms of representation to achieve their ends. As poetic expression is accompanied by music, for example, the audience's experience may be enriched. The combinations and permutations resulting from integrations across the realm of artistic expression may be limitless.
Achievements and Aspirations
Performative work radically alters the definition of knowledge and research. In doing so, it functions subtly within the academy to gradually expand consciousness of possibilities. And with this shift, the potential contribution of the social sciences to society is substantially increased. Unlike traditional empiricists, typically absorbed by testing abstract hypotheses or observing society from the sidelines, performative inquiry can actively create change. A performative consciousness prompts asking such questions as, ‘Who is this research for?’ ‘Will this research help to make a change for the better?’ It is ultimately a matter of communicating with full potentials to all peoples. In this way, the distance between the academy and the community is diminished and scholars become more fully engaged in the life-worlds about them.
Its capacity for engagement further means that performative work establishes the grounds for dialogue within society. Traditional scientific writing speaks down to society, positioning itself as authoritative and legitimate, over and above the views of the audience. In contrast, when communicating with forms of theater,