Ventriloquism as Method: Writing Differently and Thinking Philosophically

Abstract

This article argues for ventriloquism as a method of (post)qualitative inquiry for appropriating the voice of the Other and amplifying multi-voiced selves. Thinking with embodied figures, ventriloquism captures philosophical conceptions of the subject and object through the self and other. To sustain the existence of “abject” voices, we orient readers’ attention to the creative feature of the “material dimension” through literary devices. The deliberate uses of bold italicized text and footnotes are one instance. We propose that the intention of ventriloquial writing is not to find something that exists in that lived experience, but to re-orient our thought to understand be(com)ing the Other within a liminal space. By refusing conventional methodologies, ventriloquism may serve as an ontological response to St. Pierre’s (2021) call for experimenting and creating other “new forms of inquiry” (p. 7).