When used with caution and humility, the cipher, a metaphor central to hip-hop worlds, captures the power of human relationality and the arts in collaborative qualitative research about and for social justice at the beginning of the 21st century. In this article, the author illustrates the potential of this metaphor via a year-long study that involved four K-12 educators and a university-based researcher inquiring into the meanings and implications of education for social justice. The author concludes that more democratic, process-oriented, and creative approaches to qualitative inquiry can transform the individuals involved and, in turn, enhance our commitments to working toward a more equitable society and world.
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