Fingerprints and Pulp: Nomadic Ethics in Research Practice

Abstract

This paper thinks with Braidotti’s nomadic ethics through the process of making paper to consider the ethical marks and cuts of doing qualitative research. Through the process of making paper, cutting, soaking, blending, pressing, and drying the debris of my dissertation, I consider questions of representation, ethics, and responsibility in qualitative research. Simultaneously, I consider the relations and interactions made possible through an art installation where the handmade paper was displayed as part of my dissertation defense. I contemplate my interactions and conversations with the participants that attended the installation and how these encounters led to new considerations of ethics and representation through research methodology and art.