Embracing the Cruel Optimism of Phenomenological Writing. (December 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hughes, Hilary E.
• Other Names: Van Cleave Jessica guest-editor.; Bridges-Rhoads Sarah guest-editor.; Hughes Hilary E. guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Qualitative inquiry. Volume 24:Number 10(2018)
• Page Start: 799
• Page End: 809
• Publication Date: 2018-12
• Subjects: phenomenology -- writing as method -- writing as inquiry; Social sciences -- Methodology -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 300.72
• DOI: 10.1177/1077800418785194
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1077-8004

Abstract

This article is about the euphoria I experience each time I write about philosophically informed phenomenological research: writing and reading and thinking that began in graduate school and has not let up since. This is the writing that takes me places I never imagined I could go. In this article, I explore how the enraptured, creative experiences I have when writing the idea, and all I let go of or put on hold to keep attempting to write it eventually became a relation of cruel optimism. The article serves as a reminder that writing to fulfill the demands of the entrepreneurial institution gets us something very different than the writing that emerges from a constant desire to engage with words. It gestures toward opportunities to share our work, our ideas, our thinking in ways that move beyond the published, legitimized neoliberal page.