Practising Diffraction in Video-Based Research

A sense of spacing: Toward a diffractive reading of organizational space

“…This article further extends an emerging line of research, developing methodological approaches for organizational studies by drawing on the work of Barad. Researchers have, for example, suggested ways to translate ideas such as diffraction, intra-action, and material-discursive practice into data collection and fieldwork practices (Davies and Riach, 2018), visual and video-based research methods (Mengis et al, 2018;Mengis and Nicolini, 2021), and writing with our animal companions (Huopalainen, 2020). These works decentralize human agency and shift the analytic attention to the complex intra-actions that materialize research and researcher bodies.…”

“…In taking these methodologies further, researchers have used diffraction as a methodological approach (e.g. Keevers and Treleaven, 2011; Mengis and Nicolini, 2021; Visser and Davies, 2021). In this article, I am particularly interested in how a diffractive methodology can enhance research on senses and organizational space.…”

“…In this article, I respond to this lacuna by drawing on diffractive methodologies (Barad, 2007;Haraway, 1997) that have gained growing attention in organizational studies (e.g. Davies and Riach, 2018;Keevers and Treleaven, 2011;Mengis and Nicolini, 2021). The term diffraction comes from physics and refers to "the way waves combine when they overlap" (Barad, 2007: 28) to generate new patterns.…”

Forum: The Case for Reflexive Writing Practices in Management Communication and Organization Studies

“…Management communication and organization studies have long problematized the idea that writing can be reduced to the mere transmission of information based on clarity (Axley, 1984; Christensen & Cheney, 2015). This field has debated the relevance of approaching writing as a relational process through which writers engage in interactions with readers and how this relation needs to be considered throughout the research design (Mengis & Nicolini, 2021; Tracy et al, 2014).…”

The Irony of Rankings

“…Consequently, the data produced by social research are not a straightforward 'representation' or 'reflection' of that world (Barad, 2007, p. 49). Rather, it is always and unavoidably a diffraction (Fox & Alldred, 2021, p. 3) (Mengis & Nicolini, 2021). Other practical advances are that such digital tools have to potential to continue our ethnographic research, especially since it increases participant abilities, and as such, produce effective ethnographies (Thornburg, 2014).…”