Scholarship Revolution

Abstract

Spoken Word, presented here, is an embodiment of critical theory, where discourse centered on the intersections of race, class, identity, lived experiences, and critical consciousness are named, analyzed, and interpreted in critical performance narratives. Merging the social sciences and the humanities-blending narrative, radical performance text, and popular culture, the power of Spoken Word moves qualitative research methodologies forward to include the voices of a new generation of scholars. In reflecting the author's "spoken soul," this piece pushes the boundaries for envisioning the possibilities of storytelling as research, while also expanding the foci of ethnopoetics interpretative potential. In addition, this piece, in form and content, illustrates the possibility of Spoken Word as a radical, "literocratic" research practice for 21st-century scholars-those who wish to demarginalize local and cultural epistemologies.

Artistic Sensibility is Inherent to Research

“…Employment of this artistic sensibility is readily observable in the works of those reviewed previously. We may read Sousanis’ (2015) comics, attend Barry’s (2017) fashion show, listen to Blain’s (2013) composition, read McKnight, Bullock and Todd’s (2017) poem, or “hear” William-White’s (2011) spoken word to appreciate artistic sensibility in these products of dissemination. The growing application of these sensibilities in the social sciences bodes well for the continued advancement of discourse along these lines.…”

“…West (2001) released an album concerning the same topics of his academic works but framed in a representation designed to connect with a broader audience. There are other examples still that demonstrate the artistic use of language and rhetoric (see Finley & Knowles, 1995) and spoken word (see William-White, 2011) in research.…”