Destabilizing representation of research in education

Abstract

The purpose of this Part of the Companion is to sketch conditions for thinking about the (im)possibilities of mimesis, that is, how we think we represent the world in words and actions. Faithfulness in representation is perhaps not as straightforward as some would like it to be in educational research. The recourse in the social sciences more generally is much more to the philosophical than scientific, and hence a politics of inquiry has evolved around methodologies and methods in educational inquiry. Researchers of education are challenged to look beyond assumptions of a unitary epistemology and must now learn how to find their ground within a complex of highly contested onto-epistemic positions. As such, representation becomes a crucial issue where research in education involves bridging or respecting incompatibilities of world and words about educational thought and action, expressed through interpretation. Contributors to this Part discuss their struggles to become more conscious and reflexive in addressing concerns of representing education across genres that interact in complex ways within and beyond theoretical perspectives. Although questions remain, what seems important in times of paradigm proliferation is not so much what the changes are, but how we think about them within, and as, researching education.