Spatiotemporality,Anthonomasia,and Post-Qualitative Inquiry

Abstract

Although many qualitative researchers have rejected modernism as a guiding theoretical framework, they continue to work within a space/time binary. Space and time represent two of our most fundamental concepts, and the associated binary operates essentially unquestioned. The concepts of spacing, temporalizing, and spatiotemporality are introduced to show how time is irremediably contaminated by space and vice versa. A strange space is opened up by the deconstruction of space and time, one in which every “now” is also a “point” and every “point” is also a “now.” This properly differential and original space constitutes one important aspect of a post-qualitative inquiry. Derrida’s work, Glas, is then introduced as an example of a text in which a spatiotemporal reinscription is attempted. Anthonomasia as a writing strategy is then discussed as a way in which a spatiotemporal reinscription can occur more deliberately. Examples are also presented to illustrate this writing strategy.