Ensembles of Life

Developing an Affirmative and Intensive Concept in Educational Research

Bibliographic Data

ID6142893
AuthorsSusan Nordstrom (0000-0002-5102-2053, University of Memphis, corresponding author), Susan Naomi Nordstrom
Year2019
Volume8
Issue1
Pages14-40
Publication date2019-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEducational Research for Social Change (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2221-4070 • E-ISSN: 2221-4070
PublisherAcademy of Science of South Africa (PUBLISHER • ZA)
DOI10.17159/2221-4070/2018/v8i1a2
OpenAlexW2946130643
SCIELO_PIDS2221-40702019000100004
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited7

In this article, I share how I developed an affirmative and intensive concept, the ensemble of life, in a postqualitative study about family history genealogy. Intensive concepts are new concepts that are developed using alternative methods, and seek to affirm what is being lived as well as open up possibilities for different ways of living. Data assembled during a postqualitative study about family history genealogists and the objects (e.g., photographs, documents, and other artefacts) they use to construct their ancestors provided fertile ground for intensive concept development. The excess of the objects bloated preexisting concepts and warranted a new concept, the ensemble of life, to describe the work of objects in family history genealogy that affirms that work and opens it up to becomings. The ensemble of life is a loose grouping of a person's trajectories-or lines-that are formed by the objects in a deceased person's life, the sensations associated with those objects, and the virtual potential of those objects

Sociology · Children's Rights and Participation · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Psychology · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

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