Files
Abstract
Post qualitative inquiry requires a different approach to performing the acts of social science research, which are, arguably, inseparable from the rhythms of life itself. This dissertation is an exercise in what I call theory-method-living, or rather an attempt to live in call and response to the theories that guide not only research, but also mundane day-to-day activities. In a sense, this is the deterrorialization of research and the reterri-torialization (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987) of lifeone movethat explores what it may look like to do a post qualitative dissertation. Thus, this is not merely an exercise in knowledge-making, but a pedagogical, ontological, and ethical undertaking. Within, readers will find the content organized by the philosophical concept of the plateau (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987), a period of sustained intensity, a rhizomatic entity, which allows readers to consider different conceptual configurations in relation to the organization of TED and locally franchised partners called TEDx. Allowing the New Materialist concept of diffraction (Barad, 2007; Haraway, 1997) to guide this inquiry, readers will experience three main plateaus that focus on the enactment, embodiment, and encounter of this concept in various settings. Plateaus that act as propulsions thrust the reader into new space for thought and action and serve as arbitrary boundaries for the document. This inquiry is based on the life lived through my intra-actions with TED and a local TEDx organization at my university. I performed several acts of research, such as interviews, surveys, and observations, but the richest activities of inquiry were found in the unplanned moments of thinking, writing, and living among my TEDx family. This assemblage of analyses should not be read as a complete, self-contained entity, but rather as a multiplicity of differences that are an on-going act of becoming.