The Semicolon: Reflecting on Research Issues Surrounding Children’s Trauma-Laden Narratives

Roberta Attard

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Chapter 5 The Semicolon

Reflecting on Research Issues Surrounding Children’s Trauma-Laden Narratives

In: Perspectives in Wellbeing: Narratives from the Field

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Roberta Attard

Roberta Attard
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 100–114

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004727922_006

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Abstract

As one looks from a historical perspective at the vast field of social scientific, empirical research conducted on and with children, it is evident that the predominant emphasis has been on children as the objects of research rather than children as subjects, on child-related outcomes rather than child-related processes and on child variables rather than children as persons. (Greene & Hill, 2005, p. 1)

My expeditions into personal experiences of trauma and practitioner/researcher role with children living alongside adversity have made it clear that the narratives we attribute to them are more often than not about them rather than from them. Research about children’s lives has largely been representative of what adults think children are saying, with children positioned as becomings rather than beings (Morss, 1996). What kind of knowledge has it been feasible for adult researchers to obtain from children? How do we navigate and negotiate the effect of audiencing (Rose, 2001) to arrive at a narrative that truthfully allows the child’s voice to emerge from their trauma-burdened bodies? How does one get past “what one believes one knows” (Baumann, 1999, p. 101) to find novel ways of researching these, often wordless, but nonetheless, storied lives? This chapter presents my auto-ethnographic experiences and reflections on research about (?) and from children … within the context of a semicolon.

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Perspectives in Wellbeing: Narratives from the Field

Series: Studies in Inclusive Education, Volume: 54

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004727922

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 11 Apr 2025

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Chapter 5 The Semicolon

Reflecting on Research Issues Surrounding Children’s Trauma-Laden Narratives

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Perspectives in Wellbeing: Narratives from the Field

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