The cruel optimism of co-production
ISSN: 1443-9883
Article publication date: 28 May 2021
Issue publication date: 7 February 2022
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper, the author reflects on her researcher experiences of attempting to construct co-productive epistemic relations in her ethnographic doctoral research about a gallery youth collective. The paper engages with debates about the nature of co-productive relations, advocating for a more affective approach which attends to multiple, temporary moments within the research, rather than seeking a grand or unified process of collaboration.
Design/methodology/approach
This methodological paper draws on the records and reflections the author generated in the process of undertaking collaborative ethnographic research, considered with a specific theoretical resource (Lauren Berlant's Cruel Optimism (2011)) to construct a reflexive narrative from her doctoral research experiences.
Findings
The paper discusses the multiple, shifting ways in which research relationships unfolded in the author's doctoral research and the impasse this generated in the author’s understanding of desirable co-productive relations. Reflecting with Berlant's Cruel Optimism (2011) allowed the author to understand the Covid-19 crisis as the rupture of the author’s attachment to this relational fantasy. Beyond this rupture, the author was able to more fully attend to fleeting, affective moments as a form of co-production within the research.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the growing anthology of critical and reflexive narratives about co-production; these collectively provide a resource for researcher reflection and for teaching about collaborative practices.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to reviewers 1 and 2 and the Editor of this special issue, and to the doctoral supervisors for their rich input in the development of this paper. The author thanks all the young people and gallery staff who took part in the research.
Funding: This doctoral research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council: ES/J500100/1.
Citation
Kill, C. (2022), "The cruel optimism of co-production", Qualitative Research Journal, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 56-66. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRJ-02-2021-0019
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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