Making Political Science: Material-Aesthetic Approaches to Knowledge Production

Abstract

Making represents an important practice in political science research, but the relative unfamiliarity of “making” within the discipline often pushes discussion of it to the margins. This article helps theorize the value of making in political science and questions the idea that moves away from writerly research modes undermine or otherwise erode standards of scholarship. It argues that making processes generate unique opportunities for intellectual discovery; for data collection; for analytic practices of reflexivity, associative thinking, and the adaptation of multiple positionalities; and finally, for argumentation. As such, it suggests that boundary-pushing research that incorporates hands-on praxis to make aesthetic products may in fact augment systematicity and rigor according to established disciplinary norms.