In hierdie tweetalige onderhoud gesels Estelle Kruger met die skrywer van 'n onlangse LitNet Akademies (Geesteswetenskappe)-artikel, Eleanor Lemmer, oor haar artikel “‘Navorsing voed my siel’: Die verkenning van passie en produktiwiteit in die vertellings van erkende navorsers” (abstract also available in English).
Eleanor, jy het ’n interessante keuse gemaak om Csikszentmihalyi, Vallerand en Neumann se werk as teoretiese lens te gebruik. Hoe het jy daarop afgekom?
I had been considering the role of passion as the unseen but powerful motivator of research for the last number of years as I reflected on my own academic journey. In my reading on the academic life, I first came across the fascinating and original work of Anna Neumann on “passionate scholarship” and the role of the aesthetic in scholarship. I experienced that aha! moment that you enjoy as a researcher when you find a kindred spirit. Anna Neumann is a professor of higher education at Columbia University, New York and former president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education in the US. Her work is partly based on flow theory as developed by Csikszentmihalyi, a creativity expert. I was already familiar with Csikszentmihalyi’s work, but had associated it primarily with creativity in the arts and performing arts. Now flow theory provided me with another lens through which to view academic creativity. I carried out my interviews and began writing up my findings, but I found I was not entirely satisfied with the theoretical framework. In another time-consuming and rigorous search of the literature I came across the work of Valler and (a French Canadian) and his colleagues which provided the additional explanation that I still needed to understand my participants’ experiences. The process of developing the theoretical framework alone took me about nine months. When I recently shared this process with a group of novice researchers at my university, they were very critical. They felt that in the current rat-race to “publish lest you perish” one could never “waste” so much time developing a mere theoretical framework. Their sentiments sealed the argument for me!
| Lees ook: |
|---|
| • Outo-etnografie, reise in die verlede en dubbeltjies op die navorsingspad |
| • LitNet Akademies |
Csikszentmihalyi is ’n kenner van kreatiwiteit. Sou jy jou eie navorsingsloopbaan as kreatiewe uitdrukking van jouself beskou?
My own research and academic writing have been an expression of my own creativity, certainly. I have always enjoyed writing academic texts and endeavour to create in them something that is elegant and. yes, beautiful, in terms of precision and a flow of logical thought. Qualitative research also gave me scope to “tell a story” via my research. However, in recent years I became increasingly dissatisfied with academic work as an outlet for creativity. My introduction to and employment of autoethnography as a research method have opened up new vistas in which I have been able to combine literary creativity with academic rigour. Now, as I face retirement within a year, I have begun to write creative non-fiction, a bit of poetry and short stories. This provides the fulfilment I need at this stage of my life. And when I am busy, I certainly experience flow – the absorption in the moment which is divorced from the pressures of external incentives.
Hoe sou jy ’n jong navorser aanmoedig om sy/haar passie te volg ten spyte van die “donker kant” van vloei – dws die negatiewe toestande in die loopbaan?
I would recommend creating boundaries in one’s life so that there is time for all aspects of self-development and also time for service to others. Unfortunately academe is a jealous mistress who demands more and more of one’s time and energy. A good idea is to marry a fellow academic as I did! Interestingly, those of my participants who were married to academics found that it was easier to handle the demands of the academic life when it was shared with someone like-minded.
Die deelnemers aan jou navorsingsprojek word almal naamloos vermeld in die artikel. Tog is Csikszentmihalyi meer spesifiek oor die persone wat hy in sy boeke betrek. Wat het jou verhinder om hulle by hul name te noem? Sou jy dit anders wou gehad het vir jou artikel?
Anonymity is part of the typical ethical contract which a researcher has to close with participants. This is also required when one applies for ethical clearance at one’s insitution. I am aware that it is important to respect the privacy of participants and as an academic writer I am accustomed to the practice of using pseudonyms. I must add that many participants told me that they did not mind disclosure of their identity, but I adhered to convention. I don’t think pseudonyms detract from the liveliness of the text. However, I dislike it when writers refer to “participant A, B or C”, and always advise my postgraduate students to think of suitable pseudonyms which do not detract from the personality of participants. Writing up the findings of good qualitative research requires “telling the story” and stories have characters!
Hoe sou ’n navorser self weet wat sy/haar passie is? Is daar “simptome” om op te let?
I think in one’s early career one is interested in everything. As one carries out research, often even as early as during a master’s or doctoral study, one’s interests become more and more refined. I think a sure symptom of passion is the experience of sheer delight in finding out more about a topic. This is about pleasure, joy and excitement, the feeling that you cannot wait to get back to your books, your lab, your fieldwork. The feeling that you could spend a lifetime digging into a topic and that topic will never be exhausted or reach a point where it bores you.
Csikszentmihalyi se teorie van vloei stem nogal ooreen met sy beskrywing van die kreatiewe proses1 hier onder genoem. Dink jy om ’n artikel te skryf pas in hierdie fases van kreatiwiteit?
That is a great idea. I think I would do that by using my own experience, though in an autoethnographic essay in which I trace Csikszentmihalyi’s phases through an own creative project rather than explore the stages in another person’s experience.
Neumann se studie handel spesifiek oor passie in die akademie. Dink jy dit is veralgemeenbaar vir ander loopbane? Is dit dalk wat Vallerand se DMP (Dualistiese Model van Passie) veronderstel?
Neumann is a social scientist using qualitative methodology, life history interviews; Vallerand is a professor of psychology who engages mainly in experimental quantitative studies. Interestingly, Neumann never refers to Vallerand’s work and there is no evidence that she has used his DPM in her own research. But the theories clearly overlap in their discovery that passion as a positive emotion drives one back time and again into the creative process and provides the motivation to remain on task during times of failure and frustration. Vallerand has applied his theory widely to many different occupations. Neumann’s work focuses on academe, but has the potential to be applied to other creative endeavours – some of the academics she interviewed were in fields such as music, mathematics and astronomy. A unique contribution of her theory is its emphasis on the aesthetic, the beauty in creativity, which acts as a spur to repeated engagement in an activity. She also relates flow experienced in scholarship to past experiences, especially in childhood, in which one encounters joy in discovery and learning, and the desire to repeat that joy is experienced by the adult academic who is motivated by both past and present. Autobiographies of great scholars (think of CS Lewis, the medievalist and writer, and the mathematician Alan Turing) often describe a moment of joy experienced by the child-scholar which is the genesis of the adult-scholar.
Hoe kan jou navorsing mense wat interaktief aan ’n projek saamwerk, bemoedig om mekaar te respekteer?
Enthusiasm, excitement, joy in research are contagious. They inspire similar emotions in a co-worker. Individual passion in each member of a team is integral for a successful project. My most fruitful academic partnerships (I have enjoyed two outstanding alliances in my 30-year-old career) were those in which both of us were passionate about the same topic. As a result we gave many co-presentations, co-authored books and articles and conducted many workshops driven by a shared passion and certainly a mutual respect for the complementary contribution made by each. Kern, whose model I refer to in my article, is a medical researcher and he mentions that passion is essential to the functioning of teams of medical researchers – in case readers may think that this argument belongs purely to the realm of the “soft” sciences.
As jy die dekaan van ’n fakulteit was, watter prestasiemerkers sou jy integreer om vloei en passie as deel van navorsingsproduktiwiteit te inkorporeer?
I would recognise that researchers need personal time and solitude, free of interruptions, to work. I would recognise – and this would be very difficult in the current milieu – that good research takes time to complete and that it is unrealistic to expect full-time academics who have to teach as well as do research to produce three or four quality articles a year. Most importantly, what is needed is academic administrators who also exemplify academic excellence and inspire others through their leadership and who are not merely bureaucrats.
Watter hulpbronne en infrastruktuur sou vloei en passie by ’n universiteit fasiliteer?
Sabbatical / research and development leave is a wonderful opportunity, even if it comes up only every five or six years. Being able to take dedicated academic days or leave gives busy lecturers time off to work on research. Some researchers find writing retreats beneficial – but I am not one of those! Regular attendance of quality conferences, exposure to speakers and seminars are all useful to generate ideas. A good library which provides easy access to e-resources and as well as print is, of course, essential. But again nothing substitutes for the individual’s commitment to his/her research. The university can create an enabling environment; the researcher provides the zeal.
Dit is interessant dat heelwat van die deelnemers aan jou navorsingsprojek ook betrokke was by vernuwende kurrikulumontwerp en studiemateriaalontwikkeling. Sou dit uitgesluit kon word vir passievolle navorsers om hulle meer tyd te gee vir hul navorsing?
Interestingly, Neumann’s concept of passionate scholarship (note: scholarship – not research as such) includes university teaching and research. She identifies the same moments/stages experienced in excellent and creative teaching as she does in research. This broader concept is to be commended. In many institutions the value of good teaching is subsumed, and many would say devalued, in the drive to produce subsidy-bearing articles and books. The development of effective teaching materials is somewhat sidelined unless a researcher can turn that into an article dealing with material development. The scales weigh heavily on the side of research and that is a worldwide trend.
Watter vereistes sou jy as universiteitsleier stel om passievolle navorsers te werf?
Recognition of passion as a desirable quality in a researcher rather than an over-emphasis on monetary reward for research and the idea, prevalent worldwide, that more supervision (some would even go so far as to say surveillance) of academics will produce more research. I think passion thrives in a university culture of collegiality rather than in the current business model.
Hoe sou dit moontlik wees om vloei en passie openlik te bespreek en by openbare diskoers te betrek by die universiteit?
Hopefully my article will serve to open some debate on the topic. Also by discussing the role of emotive issues in research in colloquia and seminars – other issues may be the role of resilience in the academic life and coping with failure, disappointment and frustration. This brings me back to Vallerand’s field – positive psychology – in which greater scientific attention is being given to the role of optimism, happiness, meaningfulness and mindfulness in productivity.
[1] Kreatiewe proses volgens Csikszentmihalyi (1996) – bron in artikel genoem.
Voorbereiding: raak volledig deel van die probleem, stimuleer nuuskierigheid (inspirasie).
Inkubasie: gee geleentheid dat idees in onderbewuste kan broei.
Aha-moment: wanneer die stukke van die legkaart inmekaar pas.
Evaluering: toets emosioneel en krities aan die hand van kriteria in die veld
Uitbreiding: harde werk om te voltooi (perspirasie).
Kommentaar
Nogal 'n baie raak punt! Hoekom haat met 'n passie, maar nie werk daarmee nie?
So baie mense begin saam in beroepe, maar dan val vele langs die pad weg. Terwyl Masslow en al daai snare se motiveerders tog vir almal dieselfde(?!%) bly. Dis die persoon met die passie, wat die sogenaamde uitskieter en leier word.