Bricolage

Kincheloe, J. L. (2005). On to the Next Level: Continuing the Conceptualization of the Bricolage. Qualitative Inquiry, 11(3), 323-350. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800405275056

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• Contextual Adaptability

  • Bricolage involves employing methodological strategies as needed in the unfolding research context.

  • This interdisciplinary approach is central to the concept of bricolage.

• Beyond Interdisciplinarity

  • Qualitative researchers should push beyond dynamic interdisciplinarity.

  • This approach raises issues that need to be addressed for theoretical coherence and epistemological innovation.

• Research Self-Consciousness

  • Multidisciplinarity demands heightened self-awareness in researchers.

  • Researchers must expose structures influencing their narratives and understand their social location.

• Complexity and Lived World

  • Bricolage respects the complexity of the lived world, grounded in an epistemology of complexity.

  • Research is influenced by social theory, which frames observations consciously or unconsciously.

• Active Methodology

  • Bricoleurs actively construct research methods rather than passively receiving them.

  • This process involves constructing and reconstructing methods, negotiation, and readjustment.

• Rejecting Standardization

  • The approach resists standardized modes of knowledge production.

  • It embraces complexity and the active role of humans in shaping research processes.

• Against Monological Knowledge

  • Bricolage avoids reductionistic and monological forms of knowledge.

  • It seeks to move beyond unilateral perspectives and simplistic resolutions.

• Dialectical Relationship

  • Knowledge production involves a complex relationship between material reality and human perception.

  • Researchers must acknowledge multiple factors shaping perception and avoid mistaking perception for truth.

• Multiple Perspectives

  • Bricoleurs seek multiple perspectives to avoid monological knowledge and simplistic interpretations.

• Ontological and Epistemological Assumptions

  • The bricolage recognizes the interplay of various entities and the ever-changing nature of reality.

  • It demands multiple ways of seeing and understanding phenomena.

• Challenging Universalism

  • Contextual specificities interfere with the ability to generalize findings universally.

  • The approach respects and accounts for diverse conceptualizations across different social settings.

• Polysemy and Interpretation

  • Interpretation is complex, with different meanings for different contexts.

  • Research is more complex than it appears due to varied interpretations.

• Process-Oriented Knowledge

  • Bricoleurs focus on processes rather than isolated entities.

  • Understanding phenomena involves comprehending the processes they are part of.

• Relational Ontology

  • The self is less stable and essentialized; relationships and connections are central.

  • Culture is intertwined with the self, influencing identity and research.

• Intersecting Contexts

  • Knowledge must be contextualized, recognizing multiple intersecting fields.

  • Contextualization reveals new dimensions of phenomena, avoiding reductionism.

• Multiple Epistemologies

  • Diverse epistemologies arise from different historical and cultural locales.

  • Bricoleurs seek insights from various epistemologies, asking new questions about knowledge.

• Intertextuality

  • Research narratives are connected to other narratives and historical contexts.

  • Researchers must understand intertextual influences on their work.

• Discursive Construction

  • Knowledge is shaped by discursive rules and practices, influenced by power dynamics.

  • Bricoleurs uncover these hidden rules to understand their impact on research narratives.

• Interpretive Nature of Knowledge

  • All knowledge production involves interpretation; facts do not speak for themselves.

  • Researchers are interpreters, analyzing the world within its boundaries and biases.

• Fictive Dimensions

  • Research narratives contain fictive elements influenced by various factors.

  • Bricoleurs acknowledge these elements to avoid naïve representations.

• Cultural Assumptions

  • Research methods are shaped by historical and cultural contexts.

  • Researchers must be aware of these assumptions to produce more complex knowledge.

• Power and Knowledge

  • Power shapes research by censoring and producing knowledge.

  • Researchers must trace the influence of power in research norms and practices.

• Structural Analysis

  • Social structures are viewed as contextually specific and mutable.

  • Researchers use multiple methods to analyze structures from different angles.

• Complexity Principle

  • Knowledge production is more complex than originally thought, necessitating bricolage.

  • Bricoleurs must develop new ways to understand social, cultural, psychological, and educational life.

• Interdisciplinary Inquiry

  • Significant work in social complexity is occurring across various fields.

  • The bricolage transcends traditional paradigms, embracing the complexity of knowledge production.

• Epistemological and Ontological Maps: Essential for understanding complex research landscapes.

  • Provide thick description and glimpses of potential realities.

  • Highlight multidimensional, socially constructed, polyvocal, and ever-changing nature of the social world.

Ontology of Complexity in Bricolage

• Complex Ontology: Key to understanding the bricolage approach.

  • Non-Encapsulated Entity: Objects of inquiry are always part of larger contexts and processes.

  • Culturally Inscribed and Historically Situated: Objects are influenced by cultural and historical efforts to interpret their meanings.

• Process-Sensitivity: Objects are viewed as ever-changing, similar to a flowing river.

  • No fixed portrait of a social phenomenon due to multiple vantage points of observers.

  • Reductionistic knowledge results from unawareness of complexity.

  • Bricoleurs seek to understand the complex social fabric in a thick, detailed manner.

• Interconnected Dynamics: Physical, social, cultural, psychological, and educational aspects are interconnected.

  • Different descriptions based on different focus areas.

  • Ontology and epistemology are inseparable, shaping the research task.

Dimensions of Bricolage

1. Methodological Bricolage:

   • Multiple data-gathering strategies: ethnography, historical research, discursive analysis, phenomenological analysis, psychoanalytical methods, textual analysis.

2. Theoretical Bricolage:

   • Wide range of social theoretical positions: constructivism, critical constructivism, feminism, Marxism, postmodernism, poststructuralism, cultural studies, queer theory.

3. Interpretive Bricolage:

   • Diverse interpretive strategies: hermeneutics, personal history, autobiography, race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, geographical place.

4. Political Bricolage:

   • Political implications of research: power dynamics, ideological power, hegemonic power, discursive power, regulatory power, coercive power.

5. Narrative Bricolage:

   • Research knowledge shaped by narratives: comedy, tragedy, irony, and their influence on the representation of research.

Philosophical Research in Bricolage

• Philosophical Tools: Clarify inquiry processes and provide insights into conceptual assumptions.

  • Subjectivity of Researchers: Intersection of researcher "invention" and "discovery".

  • Complex Boundary: Exploration between the social world and narrative representation.

• Ethical, Epistemological, Ontological, and Political Features: Highlighted in the research process.

  • Conceptual Clarification: Examines the nature of existence, historical subjects, and the impact on research processes.

Constructivism and Historicity in Bricolage

• Consciousness of Historicity: Understanding the social construction of knowledge and subjectivity.

  • Crisis of Historicity: Appreciating the blurred line between historical and historiographical.

  • Complex Dynamics: Negotiating between constructed and discovered knowledge.

• Critical Hermeneutics: Understanding power's role in shaping meaning and research processes.

  • Power and Meaning: Identification of socially oppressive forms of meaning-making.

Epistemological Analysis in Bricolage

• Exploration of Knowledge: Structure and grounds of knowledge claims.

  • Comparative Epistemological Insights: Understanding different paradigms’ views of knowledge.

• Sophisticated Knowledge Work: Informed questioning, complex concepts, alternate modes of reasoning, unprecedented interpretations.

  • Conceptual and Methodological Flexibility: Depending on the research context and phenomenon.

Philosophical Inquiry in Bricolage: Key Questions

1. Nature of Being: Examining human subjectivity and the object of study.

2. Living a Good Life: Contribution of research to the social good.

3. Knowledge of Worth: Distinguishing valuable research projects.

4. Nature of Knowledge: Understanding different definitions and paradigms.

5. Knowing Something: Cognitive theory and epistemology insights.

6. Worthy Knowledge: Judging research quality and validity.

7. Rigor in Research: Redefining rigor to recognize and work with complexity.

• Philosophical Inquiry Misunderstood: In schools of education, philosophical inquiry is often undervalued.

  • Excellent scholars have faced criticism from administrators and tenure committees.

  • Such scholars are often told their work is not "real research," leading to punishment and trauma.

• Epistemological Nature of the Attack: Criticism stems from a rigid view of knowledge production.

  • Research Purity Doctrine: Empirical (scientific) knowledge is valued over philosophical (unscientific) knowledge.

  • Empirical vs. Philosophical: The separation between empirical and philosophical inquiry is questioned.

Interdisciplinarity and Bricolage

• Transgressing Boundaries: Bricolage crosses empirical and philosophical domains.

  • Bricoleurs see empirical and philosophical features as embedded in each other.

  • Embraces multiple modes of knowledge production: philosophical, historical, literary.

Hermeneutics in Bricolage

• Critical Hermeneutics: Central to interpretation in bricolage.

  • Focuses on cultural, social, political, and historical nature of research.

  • Meaning making is influenced by one's position in the social reality web.

• Complex Interpretation: Events and phenomena do not imply a single interpretation.

  • Describing vs. Understanding: Bricoleurs distinguish between these aspects.

  • Hermeneutics and Power: Dialogue with critical theory to understand power dynamics in meaning making.

Key Interpretive Practices in Bricolage

1. Connecting Inquiry to Contexts: Objects of inquiry are connected to their embedded contexts.

2. Researcher-Subject Relationship: Appreciating the dynamic relationship.

3. Meaning Making and Human Experience: Linking interpretation to human experience.

4. Textual Forms of Analysis: Using textual analysis while considering human entities.

5. Bridge to Action: Connecting understanding to informed social action.

Critical Hermeneutics and Power

• Power in Social Processes: Critical theory’s focus on power's role in shaping human identities.

  • Historical Products of Power: Human identities and actions are influenced by historical power dynamics.

Empowering Subjects and Rigorous Analysis

• Voice to the Marginalized: Empowering research subjects and giving voice to subjugated groups.

  • Balance: Highlighting words and interactions of participants while maintaining rigorous interpretation.

  • Macro and Micro Analysis: Integrating personal experiences with broader social, political, and economic contexts.

Multiperspectivalism in Bricolage

• Fusion of Horizons: Juxtaposing divergent ideas to create synergistic interactions.

  • Metaphors: Jazz musician, quilt maker, pictorial montage.

  • Simultaneity Over Linearity: Emphasizing multiple representations of reality simultaneously.

Alternative Modes of Meaning Making

• Insights from Margins: Learning from non-Western and marginalized perspectives.

  • Social Change: Insights inform policy decisions and political actions.

  • Transcending Reductionism: Embracing diverse epistemologies and ontologies for richer understanding.

Identifying Absences

• Creativity in Research: Identifying what is absent to imagine new possibilities.

  • Rigor in Absence: Imagining alternatives, understanding unseen forces, promoting action.

Conclusion: Enhancing Human Possibility

• Quality of Knowledge: Bricoleurs seek to improve research quality and human potential.

  • Epistemological and Ontological Insight: New ways of thinking, teaching, learning.

  • Divergent Meaning Making: Favoring holistic, inclusive models over prespecified analysis.

  • Human Drama: Understanding social complexity for a larger historical perspective.

  • Connecting Research to Experience: Addressing the ontology of human existence in research.