Unfit for Interpretation? A Second Look at Research Residuals

Abstract

This article is a call to explore the potential for the renewal of knowledge and theory that may be found in the study of groups, individuals, and phenomena that escape our operations of categorization or that are left untreated because we cannot understand or explain them, or simply because we do not notice or comprehend them while we are in the field or analysing our materials. We have termed these materials that are unnoticed, set aside, or swept under the rug “research residuals”. The introduction to this thematic dossier bets on the possibility that knowledge can be produced using materials that had hitherto been considered unfit for interpretation.