Conference Agenda

Borrowing the flattery and accolades vintners reserve for wine labels

We seized the sought after acclaims, as Women

- -- more deserving of those praises

Generously pouring them out like rare “compliment cocktails”

Filling our academic souls to the brim with

the truths we know,

the truths we want said aloud,

the truths we want each other to hear

and to feel

and to accept

and to hold onto ...

For years, the presenter has been conducting small, intimate qualitative studies with friends/co-authors using collaborative autoethnographic (Ellis,et al., 2011) and poetic inquiry (Faulkner, 2005) methodologies to collectively (re)examine the implications, realizations, and nuances of their shared identity as “Women in academia.” Recently, the presenter has identified a unique method of “found poetry” that successfully convenes and prompts authentic, uncensored conversations amongst co-authors so that they can discuss, dissect, and debate the definition and experiences of being Women in academia, in general (self-cite, in press), and in relation to their collaborative research endeavors. In a “dinner party-like” setting, the presenter has used wine bottles’ consumption to facilitate free-flowing conversations and the wine bottles’ labels as found poetry sources for writing free-verse poetry. In these casual settings, the presenter-led poetic writing sessions provide shared creative spaces for investigating, interrogating, and ultimately clarifying participants’ identities within their personal/professional lives so that they can better understand themselves in relation to research studies they are co-investigating.

Defining one’s positionality and recognizing one’s identity in relation to scholarly work and/or academia is essential to qualitative research because a researcher's worldview, identity, and background can significantly influence the research process When these individual poetry writings are composed in collective writing sessions it can assist co-authors in clarifying their positionality within their communities, classrooms, and research fields; thereby moving collaborative research forward with a more self-awareness and truthfulness.

McCullis (2013) claims that we are all surrounded by poetry and that we are drawn to poems for the joy, meanings, and memories they bring to our lives, because “they have the ability to reveal the truth of our lives more passionately than the overlying narrative” (p. 109). Similarly, Nye (2015) sings praise for poetry’s deep attribute of being able “to pause, to look, to listen, to respect, to pay attention to variety and learn something new.” Following Nye and Percer's (2002) encouragement “to lean into our natural tendency towards poetic verse to help us make sense of these senseless time, to present our nontraditional narratives through nontraditional research practice, and to better document, for others, the beautiful complexity of our lives in a way that only poetry can capture” (self-cite, 2020), the Dream Team (DT)session presenter seeks to lead participants in a wine-based found poetry writing session with their co-authors (if also in conference attendance).

The presenter will lead DT attendees in individual self-study in a collective space using poetic inquiry “to talk about identity and communication in a more nuanced fashion” that embraces the “emotionality of doing research” (Faulkner, 2015, p. 2). Copies of wine LABELS will be provided; wine consumption (and poetry experience) is NOT required for this session but rather symbolizes that this time is meant to mimic a space where attendees can feel most natural and at ease to discuss themselves and their relationship to their research.

While all are welcome, the intended audience is self-identified Women in academia with an explicit encouragement that co-researchers attend this session together to engage in a structured version of “friendship as methodology” (Tillman-Healey, 2003) to promote the trust and safety necessary to encourage friendly conversation and later guide the raw reporting of truth telling in a way that most honestly captures poetic lives through the principles of interpretivism (Denzin, 1997) and interactive interviewing (Ellis, et al., 1997). Individual attendees are still welcomed as the goal of the DT session will not seek to capture “the totality of social life but to interpret reflectively slices and glimpses of localized interaction in order to understand more fully both others and ourselves” (Tillmann-Healy, 2003, p. 732).

The presenter hopes attendees will consider continuing this place-based poetic pursuit started in Athens, Greece by later contributing to a collective poetry publication with the present which would seek to capture the realizations of our claimed identities resulting from discussions throughout the self-study DT session.

Selected References

Ellis, C., Adams, T.E., and Bochner, A.P. (2011). Autoethnography: an overview.

Faulkner, S.L. (2015). Knit Four, Make One: Poems.

Nye, N.S. (29 September 2015). What Inspires Her Poetry.

Tillmann-Healy, L. M. (2003). Friendship as method. Qualitative Inquiry, 9(5). 729-749.