How one makes meaning differs according to the theoretical perspective one employs. Aligning with a poststructural theoretical perspective, the author understands that meaning is stabilized by being organized according to the concepts available. By using the same concepts to stabilize meaning, qualitative researchers have the propensity to limit the possibilities of experience and knowledge. One way qualitative researchers can consciously work toward creating new meaning is to experiment with applying alternate concepts when analyzing empirical matter. Such an analysis is an ethical move, for it seeks “better” ways to live and understand. In this article, the author illustrates how empirical matter might be analyzed through three different concepts—reading the self through Foucault, reading the self as a hacceity, and reading the participant through territory. The author concludes with an ethics of a poststructural analysis of empirical matter.
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