Qualitative Inquiry and Social Justice

In increasing numbers, qualitative researchers are leaving their ivory tower perches and entering the fray, focusing their research and actions on the promotion of social justice. In this tightly edited volume of original articles stemming from the 2008 International Congress on Qualitative Inquiry, leading figures in qualitative research demonstrate the potential for the research tradition to make contributions to the betterment of humankind.

Norman K. Denzin is professor of communications at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, co-editor with Yvonna Lincoln of the Handbook of Qualitative Research and the journal Qualitative Inquiry, as well as author of two dozen books. Michael D. Giardina is Visiting Assistant Professor of Advertising & Cultural Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Introduction, Qualitative Inquiry and Social Justice: Toward a Politics of Hope, Section I: Ethics, Evidence, and Social Justice 1. Deploying Qualitative Methods for Critical Social Purposes, 2. Four Points Concerning Policy-Oriented Qualitative Research, 3. Institutional Review Boards and the Ethics of Emotion, 4. Evidence: A Critical Realist Perspective for Qualitative Research, 6 Qualitative Research and the Conservative Challenge, Section II: Qualitative Inquiry in Post-Disaster America 5. Education Research in the Public Interest 6. Performing Pedagogies of Hope in Post-Katrina America 7. Power-Shifting at the Speed of Light: Critical Qualitative Research Post-Disaster, Section III: Human Rights and Radical Performance, 8. Dangerous Ethnography 9. Risky Research: Investigating the "Perils" of Ethnography 10. Racializing Ethics and Bearing Witness to Memory in Research 11. The Death of a Cow 12. Rethinking Words, Concepts, Stories, and Theories: Sensing a New World? Qualitative Research and the Conservative Challenge, Coda: Mentoring Relationships: Creating a Future for Qualitative Inquiry