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A Review of: “Laura L. Ellingson,Engaging Crystallization in QualitativeResearch: An introduction.”Jimmie Manning aa Northern Kentucky UniversityPublished online: 30 Aug 2010.

To cite this article: Jimmie Manning (2010) A Review of: “Laura L. Ellingson, EngagingCrystallization in Qualitative Research: An introduction.”, Southern Communication Journal, 75:4,456-458, DOI: 10.1080/1041794x.2010.504465

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1041794x.2010.504465

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In the end, Ellis defines autoethnographic writing as ‘‘about personal and collec-

tive loss and communication’’ (p. 304). Nevertheless, interpretation of an open text is

not the purview of the author alone. As this chronological examination of work and

life reveal, although Ellis’s stories may be written about loss, her life has been about

finding nurturing love.

The term ‘‘meta-autoethnography’’ is a mouthful. Ultimately, I think the short-

hand term ‘‘revisioning’’ will serve us down the road, referring to the title of this

book, if not technically to the method. That being said, everyone who is interested

in autoethnography and ethnography, autobiography and biography, in writing

and the rhythm of life should read this book. You should read this book, and feel

it, and then go back to work and live it. And Carolyn, about that dream: The gunman

was the rabbit.

Leanne PupchekQueens University of Charlotte

Laura L. Ellingson, ENGAGING CRYSTALLIZATION IN QUALITATIVE

RESEARCH: AN INTRODUCTION. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications,

2009; pp. xviþ 224. ISBN: 9781412959070, $34.95.

Most ‘‘how to’’ qualitative books seem to come in two varieties: overly complex to

the point of being inaccessible or simple to the point of being useless. The inaccessible

variety often theorize about qualitative work and what it represents without getting

to how it can be a valuable tool for social scientific or humanistic inquiry, whereas

the simple often over-reduce steps and belie the rigorous, complex, difficult, and

often-intuitive work qualitative analysis entails. Kudos, then, to Laura L. Ellingson

who eludes both of these traps in Engaging Crystallization in Qualitative Research:

An Introduction, where she carefully (and successfully) explains her perspective of

qualitative crystallization. The book, indebted to Laurel Richardson’s remarkably dif-

ferent notion of crystallization, provides a step-by-step introduction for those inter-

ested in engaging crystallized vision and analysis.

Nashville. October 17, 2008. The hospitality room of the Organization for the Study ofCommunication, Language, and Gender annual meeting. Laura is sitting back in achair, snacking on chocolate. I’m sipping coffee.

Jimmie: This book covers a lot. So what do you think is the big thing it’s about?Laura: It’s about multiple genres and qualitative crystallization, and how it can be

a form of postmodern methodological triangulation.Jimmie: Right, so—how would you say that to someone who might be new to

those terms? Because I think that could sound scary, but then you readit and it doesn’t sound scary at all. It just seems to make a lot of sense.

Laura: Right. I think for a lot of people the concept is easy to get. But it takes anew kind of planning and you have to be careful. And I hope I get thatacross somewhat, because different people are going to be good at differentthings. Like in the book I say some people just won’t be good at poetry.

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And that’s okay. They can do something else. They just need to get theirwork out there in more than one way.

Jimmie: So if I had to explain this to a student? Or a colleague?Laura: It’s about taking your research—your qualitative research—and putting it

out there in different genres or different ways for people to see. You canstill have the written report and send it to a journal, or you can still writea book. But why not do it as a play and then people can come and watchand understand? Or you could do something else. Something that getsacross what the researcher sees and that gets the researcher to think differ-ently about the data.

The book is divided into eight chapters, each followed by what are labeled as

interludes: Stories from the author’s life where she illuminates the value of crystal-

lization. The first two chapters explain what crystallization is and the theoretical

paradigms undergirding crystallization methods. This is followed by a chapter

on representational possibilities, or the choices those engaging crystallization may

have in terms of representing their research. The fourth chapter looks at designing

qualitative research with crystallization in mind, and the following two chapters

examine two different forms of crystallization. The seventh chapter is dedicated to

successful (and unsuccessful) writing across genres, with the final chapter examining

how one can publish and promote his or her work while embracing crystallization.

This final chapter is especially needed, as some of the genres of research represen-

tation discussed by Ellingson may not be seen as legitimate research in many

academic domains.

Jimmie: But can someone at my stage in their career do this? I mean, if I startwriting poetry and putting that out there—okay, scratch that. I’m a badpoet. But, like, there are some people in my department who do not likeperformance. So if I write a play, then –

Laura: But that’s what I talk about in the last chapter. You’ve got to find a way todo it where you work it in and make it work for you. In the book, I call itguerilla scholarship. You know, get them to buy into it before they knowthey’ve actually bought in.

Jimmie: I loved that part!Laura: Right. So start off with some patchwork crystallization, where maybe you

blend some poetry into your work. Or a narrative. I think a lot of quali-tative research is already in that domain, so take it a step farther and makethe narrative stand out. And then maybe one day you’re doing theperformance. Or the art show. Or even a poem.

Qualitative researchcan bePLAYFUL.

And itcan beSERIOUS.

And sometimes itcan beBOTH.

Book Reviews 457

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It’s justopen.

I hope my book celebrates ALL OF THAT.—Laura L. Ellingson, 2008 (as translated into poetry by Jimmie Manning)

Jimmie: But I still think there are going to be some people who just can’t do it—Ilike that you offer suggestions, but don’t you think it could be somethingthat could hurt people’s reputations, even if they did it on the side?

Laura: Well, I tell you, I’m more worried about people not wanting to think abouttheir work in different ways than I am about them not being able to do it. Ithink people will find something that will work for them, and we all havepeople we have to worry about to do our jobs. But if they’re only looking atthings oneway, then that’s a bigger problem. And things are changing, Jimmie.

The book’s key strength is its informed style and uplifting optimism about the

future not only of qualitative research but of research at large. Even if one does

not accept the idea of crystallization, the book offers many ideas for researchers to

play with and is a thorough and illuminating introduction to the theories, proce-

dures, and politics of qualitative inquiry and publishing. I have used the book with

both graduate and advanced undergraduate students, and they all found the text to be

accessible and stimulating. Ellingson and Sage Publications are to be commended for

creating and producing such a risk-taking, intellectually rewarding text.

Jimmie ManningNorthern Kentucky University

Harold L. Goodall, WRITING QUALITATIVE INQUIRY: SELF, STORIES,

AND ACADEMIC LIFE. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2008; pp. 255.

ISBN: 1598743244, $29.95.

Want to know how to write narrative research like a practiced master? This book pro-

vides an excellent resource for narrative researchers at any point in their careers.

Goodall gives his readers a how-to manual with practical advice on how to write

and manage a career that utilizes narrative, creative nonfiction writing. Much of

Goodall’s previous work has become essential reading for scholars interested in

blending creativity and narrative knowing into ethnographic research. Writing the

New Ethnography (2000) offered us a theoretical framework by which to interpret

Goodall’s style of ethnographic knowing and writing. Writing Qualitative Inquiry

builds on his earlier work and adds another vital component to it. In the opening

chapter, Goodall explains that the advice he dispenses in this volume relies on the

‘‘New Ethnography’’ (pp. 22–23). This book is a cookbook of sorts. Goodall gives

us recipes to take to our own kitchens and try out—recipes to help us write like good

narrative researchers. These recipes are delicious, filling, and nutritious (cooking is a

metaphor that Goodall relies on in these pages, and he even claims to be a pretty

good chef).

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