Dialogic Memory-Work as a Method to Explore the “Afterlife” of our Self-Study Doctoral Research

Abstract

We are teacher educators and researchers in South Africa. In our doctoral studies we used self-study methodologies to improve our professional practice in relation to the challenges of teaching and learning in the South African HIV and AIDS context. This article demonstrates how we, as teacher educator-researchers, explored the “afterlife” of our doctoral research. We used self-selected exemplars from our own doctoral theses as research artefacts to investigate the relationship between our doctoral research and our professional development and practice. We combined memory-work and reflexive dialogue, using questions posed by a fictitious critical friend to examine our exemplars that consisted of short pieces of writing from our doctoral theses. We concluded that our dialogic memory-work method allowed for collaborative exploration of the afterlife of our doctoral research and this, in turn, facilitated our professional practice growth as teacher educator-researchers in the South African context of HIV and AIDS.