In this article, we share the process and practice of integrating a performance ethnography, in the form of a written play, into research methods and education courses, as well as methods-based workshops. We begin by briefly sharing some of the ways in which we have come to position this work within our classroom and instructional workshops and point to its possibilities as a pedagogical approach. We then illustrate the process of introducing this methodological perspective to our students in research courses. We also highlight the implications for introducing alternative, arts-based approaches to data representation to students and describe the impact on their trajectories as producers, critics, and consumers of qualitative research.
AlexanderB. K. (2005). Performance ethnography: The reenacting and inciting of culture. In DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S. (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp. 411-441). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
2.
ChenailR. J. (2010). Playbuilding as qualitative research: The play. The Qualitative Report, 15, 1285-1289.
3.
ConquergoodD. (1985). Performing as a moral act: Ethical dimensions of the ethnography of performance. Literature in Performance, 5, 1-13.
4.
DenzinN. (2003). Performance ethnography: Critical pedagogy and the politics of culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
5.
EisnerE. W. (1997). The promise and perils of alternative forms of data representation. Educational Researcher, 26(6), 4-10.
6.
EnslerE. (2001). The vagina monologues: The V-Day edition. New York, NY: Random House.
7.
EvansK. R. (2013). Doing time in ISS: A performance of school discipline. In GabrielR.LesterJ. N. (Eds.), Performances of research: Critical issues in K-12 education (pp. 123-155). New York, NY: Peter Lang.
8.
GabrielR.LesterJ. N. (2013a). Community performances and performative texts as tools for critical exploration. Power & Education, 5, 173-185.
9.
GabrielR.LesterJ. N. (Eds.). (2013b). Performances of research: Critical issues in K-12 education. New York, NY: Peter Lang.
10.
LeavyP. (2015). Method meets art: Arts-based research practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
11.
LesterJ.GabrielR. (2012). Performance ethnography of IEP meetings: A theatre of the absurd. In VanniniP. (Ed.), Popularizing research: Engaging new media, genres, and audiences (pp. 173-178). New York, NY: Peter Lang.
12.
LesterJ. N.GabrielR. (2013). Six characters in search of an author: A performative text of the naming of the dis/abled. In GabrielR.LesterJ. N. (Eds.), Performances of research: Critical issues in K-12 education (pp. 71-93). New York, NY: Peter Lang.
13.
MadisonD. S. (2008). Narrative poetics and performative interventions. In DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S. (Eds.), Handbook of critical and indigenous methodologies (pp. 391-405). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
14.
McGill-FranzenA.MoranR. (2013). Needing intensive remediation: How a reading identity is negotiated, interpreted, and lived. In GabrielR.LesterJ. N. (Eds.), Performances of research: Critical issues in K-12 education (pp. 95-122). New York, NY: Peter Lang.
15.
NorrisJ. (2009). Playbuilding as qualitative research: A participatory arts-based approach. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
16.
OchsE. (1979). Transcription as theory. In OchsE.SchieffelinB. (Eds.), Developmental pragmatics (pp. 43-72). New York, NY: Academic Press.
17.
SaldañaJ. (Ed.). (2005). Ethnodrama: An anthology of reality theatre. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
18.
SprecherK. (2013). “I am proud to be African”: Countering deficit discourses in a U.S. School. In GabrielR.LesterJ. N. (Eds.), Performances of research: Critical issues in K-12 education (pp. 7-32). New York, NY: Peter Lang.
19.
VanniniP. (Ed.). (2012). Popularizing research: Engaging new media, genres, and audiences. New York, NY: Peter Lang.
20.
WinnM. (2010). Our side of the story: Moving incarcerated youth voices from margins to center. Race Ethnicity and Education, 13, 313-325.
