Abstract

This article presents a theoretical framework justifying the articulation of descriptive forms of critical phenomenology with experimental and poetic forms of research-creation. Through an engagement with Merleau-Ponty, the article argues that aesthetic concerns are ontological concerns. In particular, Merleau-Ponty defines embodiment not in terms of essences so much as in terms of stylizations. The focus on style opens the phenomenological description of embodiment up for research-creation through poetic experimentation. While critical phenomenology has greatly expanded the understanding of the politics of bodily stylization, this discourse has yet to fully explore the possibilities for imagining new modes of writing that are equal parts vivid description and poetical re-stylization of how bodies interact and perceive. Emphasizing the need for creative, transformative, and collective forms of writing, Gloria Anzaldúa’s work serves as a foundation for research-creation grounded in a critical phenomenology of bodily stylistics.

Keywords: critical phenomenology, flashpoint methodology, autohistoria-teoría, Anzaldúa, research-creation, critical reflection, autohistoria-teoria, Anzaldua

How to Cite:

Donaldson, C. & Lewis, T. E., (2023) “Critical Phenomenology as Research-Creation: A Theoretical Framework”, Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education 40(1), 66-80. doi: https://doi.org/10.2458/jcrae.5675