I am with you: Artful (k)nottings in/with qualitative pedagogy

Abstract

In this article, we think-with nots, knots, and (k)nots in the interstices of theory, methodology, pedagogy, and art. We define the (k)not as a bringing together of nots—openings toward creativity, mapping, and disruption—and knots—openings toward connection, entanglement, and speculative futures. Playing (k)nots within our own relations, we-three-and-more are entangled in a complex (k)not of teachers and students, mentors and mentees, friends and collaborators, artists and scholars, who all share lived experiences in/with qualitative inquiry. Thinking with and creating the (k)not as a type of visual string figuring, we pass art back and forth with one another in this artful and pedagogical experiment. Inspired by Donna Haraway, we are pedagogical kin, string figurers who ask together, what do these (k)nots produce in pedagogy as well as in methodology? What sort of living-thinking-being are we worlding together?

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 We wish to acknowledge and draw attention to the work of Rebecca Christ and Amber Ward (AmberBeckyCreative [ABC], 2021) who (separately, though always entangled), are likewise exploring the possibilities of (k)nots in philosophy, methodology, and pedagogy. When we five discovered that our inquiries overlapped—in time, concept, approach, and purpose—we embraced this synergy as opportunity. Rather than territorializing, we cheered-on and discussed, entangling for the sheer joy of the (k)not. We foreground this occurrence here (and provide glimpses of it throughout the paper via citation) not to now divide up what we formed. We do not aim cut-apart the (k)not, but rather to celebrate our with-ness. We remember the (co)incidence that co-implicates us, and we intensify our connections. It is part of the ways we have strove to (k)not ethically with those with whom we intersect. Therefore, with ABC, we foreground this experience: that scholarship is always-already a project of the together-apart, through which we encounter opportunities to purposefully (k)not scholastic kin.

2 For a detailed examination of these approaches see: Barone and Eisner (2008), Cahnmann-Taylor and Siegesmund (2017), Knowles and Cole (2008), and Leavy (2018).

3 See http://www.wendykawabata.com/ for the series we reference here.

4 See our board here (https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lVTGGwU=/).

5 See http://www.lisakokin.com/ for the artwork referenced here.

6 Reader, we invite you to continue the artful (k)nottings we have created and explored here. Please feel free to add to our board with your writings, creatings, inspirings. (K)not with us. (https://www.canva.com/design/DAEdEXWhYR8/xyvPNMLHua06KBXszIhQdA/edit)