Qualitative Inquiry and Social Justice: Toward a Politics of Hope

In increasing numbers, qualitative researchers are leaving their ivory tower perches and entering the fray, focusing their research and actions on the promotion of social justice. In this tightly edited volume of original articles stemming from the 2008 International Congress on Qualitative Inquiry, leading figures in qualitative research demonstrate the potential for the research tradition to make contributions to the betterment of humankind.

Norman K. Denzin is Distinguished Professor of Communications, College of Communications Scholar, and Research Professor of Communications, Sociology, and Humanities at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. One of the world’s foremost authorities on qualitative research and cultural criticism, Denzin is the author or editor of more than two dozen books, including Searching for Yellowstone; Reading Race; Interpretive Ethnography; The Cinematic Society; The Voyeur’s Gaze; and The Alcoholic Self. He is past editor of The Sociological Quarterly, co-editor (with Yvonna S. Lincoln) of three editions of the landmark Handbook of Qualitative Research, coeditor (with Michael D. Giardina) of three plenary volumes from the annual Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, co-editor (with Lincoln) of the methods journal Qualitative Inquiry, founding editor of Cultural Studies/Critical Methodologies and International Review of Qualitative Research, and editor of three book series. Michael D. Giardina is Visiting Assistant Professor of Advertising & Cultural Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. With Norman Denzin he has edited Qualitative Inquiry and the Conservative Challenge (Left Coast Press, 2006), Ethical Futures in Qualitative Research (Left Coast Press, 2007), Qualitative Inquiry and the Politics of Evidence (Left Coast Press, 2008), Qualitative Inquiry and Social Justice (Left Coast Press, 2009), and Qualitative Inquiry and Human Rights (Left Coast Press, 2010).