Notes on reflexive methods: past, present, and future

Abstract

This postlude evaluates the author's research process over time. It accounts for the choices made, offering a portrayal of reflexivity in action. As the author's relationships with the young people stretched out in time, and the world changed (including new technologies), the author found that older ways of doing visual analysis were no longer sufficient for the task. The author reflects on crossing into new theoretical, methodological, and ethical territory, stepping outside her comfort zone as a researcher, and highlights the value of creative collaboration that resulted in the digital interludes that accompany this book. These videos intentionally blur borders between research and art; analysis and evocation; looking and feeling; seeing and knowing. Characterizing her style of research in terms of what has become known as slow sociology, the author stresses the value of time and being open to life's disruptions that require care and repair as well as the joys of connectedness as “what matters most” in life and intellectual labor.