Hair braiding : working the boundaries of methodology in globalisation research

This paper engages the constitutive as well as the representative role of metaphor in research. Metaphors are understood to provide possibilities for representations and conceptualisations. The use of metaphorical redescription permits us to 'use familiar words in unfamiliar ways' (Rorty, 1989, p. 18) and provides new language that deters the use of repeated ways of knowing. It invites us to see things differently and to act differently. Lakoff and Johnson (1980) argue that metaphor does more than represent: 'New metaphors have the power to construct a new reality' (p. 145). I have drawn on both these understandings of metaphor. In qualitative research, metaphorical analysis has a well-established history. Researchers analyse metaphors used by research participants and apply metaphors to participant actions and understandings (Koro-Ljungberg, 2001; Gregory & Noblit, 1998). Researchers also use metaphors to reflect or represent their methodological decision-making (Richardson, 2003; Gadamer, 1989). In this article, I have nudged the conceptual boundaries of methodology. I have argued the constructive nature of metaphor in methodological positioning and decision making. I use the writing of a doctoral thesis to argue this role of metaphor. There, the metaphor of hair braiding constructed and communicated my methodological decision-making and my researcher stance as a braider.<br />