Living Life as Inquiry \u2013 a Systemic Practice for Change Agents

Margaret Rose Gearty,Judi Marshall

doi:10.1007/s11213-020-09539-4

Margaret Rose Gearty, Judi Marshall

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-020-09539-4

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Abstract

The practical orientation of action research, together with its embedded and participative principles, means it is particularly suited to complex, interconnected questions and ‘real life’ systemic issues. In the realm of first-person action research, Judi Marshall’s (1999) influential article “Living Life as Inquiry” described how such research can extend to one’s whole life whereby professional and personal questions can be set within politically relevant frames. Over the past two decades, many students and researchers have worked with and drawn much imaginative inspiration from the idea of living life as inquiry (LLI). However little has been written to describe how the practice develops and the many forms it can take. This article draws on our extensive experience as inquirers ourselves and as educators, working with students and change agents motivated to address social and environmental concerns. Twenty years after the original article we have conducted a reflective review that included surveying the literature, and working in depth with a range of stories and current practices. From this comes a textured expansion of the language and practice of living life as inquiry as it is approached from the specificity of people’s lives. Through narrative and visual textures, we present views into the many different ways LLI is developed through day-to-day practices of experimentation, data gathering, artistic exploration, intervention and reflection. We explore what this means for quality in the enactment of inquiry. The article draws particular attention to the embodied nature of inquiry and seeks to capture its fleeting, processual quality.

Highlights

Living Life as Inquiry – A Moment to Take StockIn 1999 Judi Marshall wrote an influential action research article in which she offered a layered, reflective account of her approach to bringing an inquiring attitude into her life as a researcher and aspiring change-agent in the world
In the realm of first-person action research, Judi Marshall’s (1999) influential article “Living Life as Inquiry” described how such research can extend to one’s whole life whereby professional and personal questions can be set within politically relevant frames
The meetings were recorded to aid ongoing review. Working this way generated a lot of diverging material, congruent with our experiences of people’s diverse ways of undertaking first-person action research, and of how practices develop over time

Summary

Introduction

In 1999 Judi Marshall wrote an influential action research article in which she offered a layered, reflective account of her approach to bringing an inquiring attitude into her life as a researcher and aspiring change-agent in the world. We are curious as to how such insights might help us build further on existing links to epistemologies of practice and establish a firmer language that might both anchor living life as inquiry further within the realms of action research and create interesting connections outside of it This inquiry process was initiated by the first author (M), who invited the second author (J) to join them. The meetings were recorded to aid ongoing review Working this way generated a lot of diverging material, congruent with our experiences of people’s diverse ways of undertaking first-person action research, and of how practices develop over time. Throughout the research process we had been paying attention to multiple forms of data and wanted to offer these in the article itself

Key Themes Arising

A Textured Presentational Form

Inquiry is an ongoing life quest

Section B: Enactment of inquiry: patterns and questions

Concluding Remarks