In this theoretical and methodological article, we address the need for a more comprehensive understanding of development that integrates and innovatively analyzes individualistic and collectivistic elements of Western and non-Western epistemologies. A graduate-level course responded to this need, exploring adult development through the theoretical lenses of constructive developmental theory, whole person theory, generative knowing theory, and Indigenous ways of knowing. We present a collaborative autobiographical narrative inquiry that emerged during this course as a pedagogical project, benefiting educators and researchers seeking ways to enhance understanding and representation of transformative growth. Thematic and diffractive analyses were incorporated to reveal developmental similarities and differences in adult developmental complexity. Kaleidoscopic analysis, created by combining and re-patterning significant thematic and diffractive phrases with others, revealed adult developmental potential. Like light reflecting and diffracting through shifting shards of color, kaleidoscopic analysis momentarily captured entangled and (un)predictable patterns of development, visibilizing new transformative pathways.
BaradK. (2014b). Invertebrate visions: Diffractions of the brittlestar. In KirkseyE. (Ed.), The multispecies salon (pp. 221–241). Duke University Press.
BeckerA. L. (2017). Personal transformation in RNs who recently graduated from an RN to BSN program. Journal of Transformative Education, 15(4), 315–333. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541344617696971
BrownA. M. (2017). Emergent strategy: Shaping change, changing worlds. AK Press.
14.
CardinalT.KimM.PeggJ.Branch-MuellerJ. (2021). Being and becoming online teachers: A collaborative autobiographical narrative inquiry. Brock Education Journal, 30(1), 30–50. https://doi.org/10.26522/brocked.v30i1.819
15.
ClandininD. J.ConnellyF. M. (2004). Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research. Jossey-Bass.
16.
CoghlanD. (2019). Doing action research in your own organization (5th ed.). Sage.
17.
De RooG. (2021). Knowing in uncertainty: On epistemic conditions differentiated for situations in varying degrees of uncertainty, the distinction between hierarchical and flat ontology, and the necessary merger with the axiological domain of values. disP - The Planning Review, 57(2), 90–111. https://doi.org/10.1080/02513625.2021.1981016
18.
Drago-SeversonE.Blum-DeStefanoJ.LawrenceD. B. (2023). Growing for justice: A developmental continuum of leadership capacities and practices. Corwin Press.
EmersonM. B. (2013). Navigating organizational paradox with polarity mapping: A classic grounded theory study (Publication No. 3560613). [Doctoral dissertation. Fielding Graduate University]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.
21.
FlintM. A.ToledoW. (2022). Making good trouble: Becoming-with critical inquiry. International Review of Qualitative Research, 14(4), 728–749. https://doi.org/10.1177/19408447211012649
22.
Gilpin-JacksonY. (2024). Identity, belonging and agency: A transformative development framework for global africans/black peoples. Journal of Transformative Education, 22(3), 265–283. https://doi.org/10.1177/15413446241234236
HarawayD. J. (2008). When species meet. University of Minnesota Press.
25.
HarawayD. J.GoodeveT. N. (2000). How like a leaf: An interview with Thyrza Nichols Goodeve. Psychology Press.
26.
HaynesJ.CarvalhoM. C.JohanssonV. M.AlmeidaT.PeachL.WickettK.BlandonC.BushE.WolfA. C.PetropoulousG.ReynoldsR. A.Caetano-SilvaG.PaalK.KhosaB.HannamP.Oester-BarkeyH.LandauD.AndrewsM.GeorgesonJ. (2024). Waves of flickering murmurs in everyday life: Playing between ages. Childhood & Philosophy, 20. https://doi.org/10.12957/childphilo.2024.86815
27.
HeronJ. (1992). Feeling and personhood: Psychology in another key. Sage.
28.
HogganC. (2016). Transformative learning as a metatheory: Definition, criteria, and typology. Adult Education Quarterly, 66(1), 57–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741713615611216
29.
HogganC.MälkkiK.FinneganF. (2016). Developing the theory of perspective transformation: Continuity, intersubjectivity, and emancipatory praxis. Adult Education Quarterly, 67(1), 48–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741713616674076
30.
JacobsD. T.NarvaezD. (2022). Restoring the kinship worldview: Indigenous voices introduce 28 precepts for rebalancing life on planet Earth. North Atlantic Books.
31.
JohnsonM. C.Thacker DarrowN. E. (2023). Using intersectionality to explore narrative researcher identity development in narrative inquiry research. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 36(4), 443–457. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2023.2170503
32.
KaurV. (2021). See no stranger: A memoir and manifesto of revolutionary love. One World.
33.
KeganR. (1982). The evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Harvard University Press.
34.
KeganR. (1994). In over our heads: The mental demands of modern life. Harvard University Press.
35.
KeganR. (2000). What “form” transforms? A constructive-developmental approach to transformative learning. In MezirowJ.Associates (Eds.), Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in progress (pp. 35–70). Jossey-Bass.
36.
KeganR.LaheyL. L. (2009). Immunity to change: How to overcome it and unlock the potential in yourself and your organization. Harvard Business Review Press.
37.
KimmererR. (2013). Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants. Milkweed editions.
38.
KöhlerT.SmithA.BhakooV. (2022). Templates in qualitative research methods: Origins, limitations, and new directions. Organizational Research Methods, 25(2), 183–210. https://doi.org/10.1177/10944281211060710
39.
LindsleyR. B. (2011). Constructive developmental theory and programming across cultures: An examination of the development and experiences of adult Burmese participants in a high quality adaptive capacity development program (Publication No. 3459743) [Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.
40.
LivesayV. T. (2013). Exploring the paradoxical role and experience of fallback in developmental theory(Publication No. 3571361) [Doctoral dissertation, University of San Diego]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.
MezirowJ. (1991). Transformative dimensions of adult learning. Jossey-Bass.
43.
MezirowJ. (2018). An overview on transformative learning. In IllerisK. (Ed.), Contemporary theories of learning: Learning theorists ... in their own words (pp. 90–105). Routledge.
44.
MizukoshiK. (2025). How Japanese managers in the information technology industry experience cultural diversity in the workplace: Host culture perceptions in light of constructive-developmental theory (Publication No. 31839631). [Doctoral dissertation, Columbia University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
45.
NicolaidesA. (2022). Generative knowing: Principles, methods, and dispositions of an emerging adult learning theory. Myers Education Press.
PerryS. A. B. (2021). Participatory feeling: Re-visioning transformative learning theory through Heron’s whole person perspective. Adult Education Quarterly, 71(4), 338–355. https://doi.org/10.1177/07417136211016779
48.
PloyhartR. E.VandenbergR. J. (2010). Longitudinal research: The theory, design, and analysis of change. Journal of Management, 36(1), 94–120. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206309352110
RittelH. W. J.WebberM. M. (1973). Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences Sciences, 4(2), 155–169. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01405730
51.
RobinsonS. (2022). Trans faculty and queer battle fatigue: Poetic (re)presentations of navigating identity politics in the academy. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 35(9), 911–927. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2022.2035457
52.
ScharmerO. (2018). The essentials of theory U. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
53.
ScottJ.PryceJ.ReinkeN. B.LiD.ShukerM.-A.SingletonR.TsaiA.ParkinsonA. L. (2023). Towards a ‘community for practice’—A narrative analysis of the evolution of higher education scholars. Education Sciences, 13(12), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13121239
54.
ShinerM. (2015). 7 leadership blind spots: Adult development, emotional intelligence, and leadership effectiveness among biotech R&D leaders [Doctoral dissertation, Harvard Graduate School of Education]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.
55.
SingletonG. E. (2014). Courageous conversations about race: A field guide for achieving equity in schools. Corwin Press.
56.
SmithL. R. (2016). Growing together: The evolution of consciousness using collaborative developmental action inquiry. (Publication No. 27956531) [Doctoral dissertation University of Georgia]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.
57.
TaguchiH. L. (2012). A diffractive and Deleuzian approach to analysing interview data. Feminist Theory, 13(3), 265–281. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464700112456001
58.
UlmerJ. B. (2017). Posthumanism as research methodology: Inquiry in the anthropocene. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 30(9), 832–848. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2017.1336806
59.
WallisN. (2020). Transforming in relationship: When leader-member exchange theory meets adult development theory. In ReamsJ. (Ed.), Maturing leadership: How adult development impacts leadership (pp. 151–169). Emerald Publishing.
60.
WatkinsK. E.KimK. (2018). Current status and promising directions for research on the learning organization. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 29(1), 15–29. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.21293
61.
WestL. (2014). Transformative learning and the form that transforms: Towards a psychosocial theory of recognition using auto/biographical narrative research. Journal of Transformative Education, 12(2), 164–179. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541344614536054
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
