Towards Fermentation as Method, Methodology and Intelligence

This research contribution introduces how fermentation has informed my newly developed methods and methodology, termed Vital Forces and Fermentology respectively. It further positions fermentation as a teacher through the centring of six fermentation intelligences, including, queer temporalities (Fournier, 2020), preserving and transforming (Fournier, 2020), agitating towards stability (Chen, 2018), interspecies kinship (Haraway, 2016) and contamination (Katz, 2003, 2020; Tsing, 2015).

Slide 1: Research Container
Shares the Research Container, a diagrammatic overview of the study’s frameworks, methodologies, and philosophies, that have allowed the development and the flourishing of the Vital Forces, Fermentology and the Fermentation Intelligences. It is offered as a visual tool to support future researchers embed the methods, methodology and intelligences introduced here in their future projects.

Slide 2: Vital Forces
Outlines the Vital Forces, which build upon Colebrook (2017) and Lenz Taguchi and St.Pierre's (2017) notion of 'concept as method' and draw upon my material investigations with fermentation. I propose the following Vital Forces as tools to inform the data analysis and distillation process, they are, chopping, preserving, bruising, packing, soaking and bubbling. They are informed by what Colebrook (2017) terms "intensive concepts," where "the concept itself operates as a method, derived directly from the problem it addresses" (p. 654), furthermore they emphasise a departure from traditional humanist and individualist research methods.

Slide 3: Fermentology
Describes Fermentology, a newly created methodology that functions as both a research framework and a value system. It advocates for a processual and emergent understanding of knowledge creation through prioritising, slowness, situatedness (Haraway, 2016), collaboration (Tsing, 2015), transformation (Tsing, 2015) and porosity (Katz, 2020). Aligned with a post qualitative (St Pierre, 2014, 2017, 2021; Le Grange, 2018) approach, Fermentology integrates the Vital Forces, and emphasises the importance of time, context, and relational dynamics in the creation and dissemination of knowledge.

Slide 4: Fermentation Intelligences
Positions fermentation as a teacher through the centring of six fermentation intelligences, including, queer temporalities (Fournier, 2020), preserving and transforming (Fournier, 2020), agitating towards stability (Chen, 2018), interspecies kinship (Haraway, 2016) and contamination (Katz, 2003, 2020; Tsing, 2015). The six fermentation intelligences support the re-evaluating of deep learning intentions in research projects.

Conclusion
This research output not only advances conceptual approaches to methods and methodology, it also offers a tangible 'research container' to aid other researchers and academics in applying these innovative concepts. By embracing the complex and transformative nature of fermentation, this offering invites a rethinking of traditional research methodologies, promoting a more reflective, and dynamic approach to academic inquiry.

References

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