Reflexive interpretation: A critical post-structuralist perspective on applied theatre as research

Abstract

In this article, I will trace the history of the qualitative applied theatre as research (ATAR) approach to explore how researchers may enrich their analyses and writings about ATAR-generated data with a critical post-structuralist (CPS) approach to reflexive interpretation (RI). RI is a compound methodology that considers four levels of interpretation. First, it asks researchers to consider how they handle empirical material. Second, it encourages researchers to analyse how they make their acts of interpretation conscious to themselves and their reader(s). Third, it calls for reflection on how sociopolitical and ideological contexts shape the research endeavour. Finally, it provokes researchers to investigate how authority is at play in the representation of data and findings, and in the writing of the final research output. I will consider how an RI methodology firmly rooted in a CPS paradigm can enable researchers to create analyses and representations of data that adequately portray the complexities of participants’ lived experiences in our chaotic and often contradictory postnormal world.