women, inclusion and the PhD
On the day I passed my Viva, I received this book as a thoughtful gift from a friend. The book is edited by Barbara Ann Cole and Helen Gunter, and authored by Penny Jane Burke, Gloria Gordon, Kate Hoskins, Jennifer Lavia, Heidi Safia Mirza and the two editors themselves.
When I read the first paragraph of the introduction, I immediately understood why my friend has chosen this book for me. It reads:
“You must learn to use your life experiences in your intellectual work: continually to examine it and interpret it. In this sense craftsmanship is the centre of yourself and you are personally involved in every intellectual product upon which you work” (Mills, 1970, p.216)
This is quote I came across during my initial readings for my thesis, and it was fundamental to give me the freedom I needed to write my introduction chapter, which was already emerging in an autobiographical tone and shape. Several years later, the same quotation is referred in this book and I re-visited my thoughts on it as well as my decision to go autobiographical. The women in this book had made similar choices to mine, opening a large door to evocative narratives. It is reassuring reading their rationale for doing qualitative research instead of a positivist quantitative ‘safe’ approach. I am glad that in hindsight I realise I made the right decisions all the way. Yesterday I attended the Open University’s conference on Learning disabilities, and again narratives and personal stories intertwined with research and construction of new knowledges made complete sense!