Book chapter
Prologue: The Power of Daring to Do, Write, Read and Re-read Research Eruptively
Eruptive Research: Changing Landscapes on Research in Teaching and Learning, pp.1-6
Critical issues in the Future of Learning and Teaching, Volume 26, Brill
08/12/2025
Appears in Recent Faculty of Education Publications
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Abstract
Ursula K. Le Guin was a groundbreaking author renowned for her contribu- tions to speculative fiction, particularly science fiction and fantasy. Her works, such as the Earthsea series, The left hand of darkness (1969), and The word for world is forest (1972), challenged conventional narratives and explored complex themes like gender, the politics of colonialism and capitalism, and what it means to be human in a world that is increasingly inhumane. Le Guin said things like:
Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art
of words. (2014b)
A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they
say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and
so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. (2024)
It’s always easier not to think for oneself. Find a nice safe hierarchy and
settle in. Don’t make changes, don’t risk disapproval, don’t upset your syn-
dics. It’s always easiest to let yourself be governed. (1974, p. 151)
While Le Guin speaks explicitly of the work of writers, we are all drawn to her words because of the truths we think she speaks in relation to our work as educational researchers and teacher researchers, and our belief in the trans- formative power of eruptive research and its ability to challenge and change the status quo in classrooms, curricula and communities. So to you, the reader, we invite you to remember the last time you experienced Le Guinian style ‘eruption’ in your research, your teaching, your work
when you were a volcano. When was the last time you experienced a shift so profound that the pedagogical, disciplinary ground upon which you have lived, learnt and loved was shaken to its core and changed irrevocably? What did it feel like to rise out of the ashes?
Details
- Title
- Prologue: The Power of Daring to Do, Write, Read and Re-read Research Eruptively
- Creators
- Pamela Burnard - University of CambridgeElizabeth Mackinlay - Southern Cross University
- Contributors
- Pamela Burnard (Editor) - University of CambridgeElizabeth Mackinlay (Editor) - Southern Cross University
- Publication Details
- Eruptive Research: Changing Landscapes on Research in Teaching and Learning, pp.1-6
- Series
- Critical issues in the Future of Learning and Teaching; Volume 26
- Publisher
- Brill; Leiden, The Netherlands
- Identifiers
- 9789004743076; 9004743073; 991013341490702368
- Copyright
- Copyright 2025 by Pamela Burnard and Elizabeth Mackinlay.
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Education
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Book chapter