Slippery Inquiry: Engaging With the Vague and Half-Glimpsed

Abstract

In this article, I inquire into the unsure, half-glimpsed kind of experiences, which tend to be excluded from analytical processes and research publications. Based on process thinkers, I argue that in these slippery moments, we are most open to movement, and hence to the other as other. I suggest that we have the capacity to engage with these moments through a loosened but highly focused mode of inquiry—akin to how we bodily respond to the solicitations of the environment when we walk, dance, or skate. By stressing the vague and half-glimpsed, I join others in questioning the academic norm of valuable knowledge as that which is fully illuminated, fully present, and clearly seen in radiant daylight. By pursuing the slippery research experience, I aim to contribute to the emerging stream on doing differently in the academy, including also re-doing academic traditions of writing.