Abstract
This essay argues that philosophy can be combined with qualitative research without sacrificing the aims of either approach. Philosophers and qualitative researchers have articulated and supported the idea that human meaning-constructions are appropriately grasped through close attention to “consequences incurred in action,” in Dewey’s words. Furthermore, scholarship in both domains explores alternative possibilities to familiar constructions of meaning. The essay explains by means of a concrete example the approach I took to hybridizing these approaches. It describes an ethnographic and philosophical study of how children made meaning of justice and solidarity through their practice of democratic citizenship in an extracurricular program called Village. At Village, children built and ran a miniature town. Their actions and conversations around the political challenges that inevitably arose exemplify meaning-making of ideals in response to actual problems. The meaning of solidarity and justice for these children emerged through the consequences of previous and present actions they took in communication with others. This essay details the methods I used for designing the study, collecting data, and analyzing my findings.
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Notes
Much has been written on Dewey’s naturalism; sources that influenced this piece include (Boyles 2012; Lekan 2003; Romer 2012; Shook 2000; Welchman 1995). These sources include discussion of naturalism across the multiple works in which Dewey develops his ideas. As this paper will suggest, this idea resonates through the work of other Pragmatist philosophers, though I do not mean to claim that it represents all Pragmatism (nor that it is possible to classify philosophers in overly tidy categories).
The research of developmental psychologists suggests that in fact children’s games of world-building may be the origin of philosopher’s imaginative reflections. It is through imaginative play that children develop the uniquely human ability to imagine sophisticated counter-realities, an ability that makes philosophy possible. See, e.g. Taylor (2001) and Singer and Singer (1992).
Use of the trope in children’s literature suggests how powerfully the concept of child-built polities resonates with children and adults alike. A superb example is Alice McLerran’s Roxaboxen, in which the children build public spaces, elect officials, make and uphold laws and ceremonies, and even, occasionally, go to war.
Throughout this paper, I use Village to refer to the Village program, village to refer to the actual towns that children created. Village was started by Cia Iselin and later modified towards various ends by other educators. Cia herself credited children with its invention, but her willingness to provide appropriate space, conceptual and physical, in which they could give their play free rein deserves recognition.
In keeping with Institutional Review Board requirements that research subjects’ identities be protected, I have used pseudonyms for all participants, teachers and administrators, the school, and the children’s Village, here and in the dissertation. UW Madison’s IRB reviewed and approved this research.
Ethnographers typically immerse themselves in a social setting for much longer than I did in this study, in order to gain a deep understanding of the setting. Because I was familiar with Wisconsin and its schools and had already run Village programs, including 5Â years of programs in Wisconsin elementary schools, I was able to collect data within a shorter timeframe.
See Emerson et al. (1995) for details.
The Harry Potter books provided a means to reflect on school experience, from the vantage point of a fantastical school. The books, that is to say, are another example of imagined reality on a continuum with the actual. In semi-structured interviews, I asked Serbian fifth graders to reflect on decisions Harry and his friends make in situations that pose ethical dilemmas, specifically around obligations to friends versus upholding rules. See Shuffelton (2012).
More accurately, grounded theory sometimes engages contemporary social theory, e.g. critical theory and cultural studies. It rarely enters into conversation with Plato, Aristotle, and other quintessentially philosophical texts. On grounded theory, see Charmaz (2000).
The seminal text is Clifford and Marcus (1986).
For references to this notion expressed in Nietzche’s The Gay Science and James’s “Some Problems in Philosophy” see Myers (2011, p. 7). It is presumably no accident that, within contemporary philosophy of education, making the familiar strange by revealing meaning as constructed and contingent and focusing on the relational and linguistic aspects of meaning-making, is most compatible with post-modern and Pragmatist approaches—intellectual heirs to Nietzsche and James.
On the “is” and the “ought,” pp. 21–32 ff. On experiments in living, pp. 164–204.
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Shuffelton, A. Estranged Familiars: A Deweyan Approach to Philosophy and Qualitative Research. Stud Philos Educ 34, 137–147 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-014-9414-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-014-9414-7