9 - Rewriting in role: inviting readers through imagination

Summary

Rewriting in role is a creative analysis tool that involves the deliberate and transparent process of rewriting existing data through fictional characters. This chapter details the theory, origins, practice, and potential of rewriting in role as an analysis method to invoke active questioning and ongoing thinking. The chapter begins by contextualising rewriting in role within my doctoral thesis, offering a detailed example of the theory and practice, positioning this alongside other creative methods, and finally offering a guide for those interested in adopting this creative analysis method.

Introducing rewriting in role

As a creative data analysis method, rewriting in role is a considered and deliberately partial reconsideration of initial data through which a richer story emanates. Rewriting in role aims to explore and interrogate key areas of the research through rewriting the data from the perspective of fictional characters. A drama- based method, it is heavily influenced by a range of creative approaches, including writing as a method of inquiry and narrative inquiry (Richardson and Pierre, 2005).

As an explicit theatrical device rewriting in role does not fictionalise original data sources or fabricate participant responses or impersonate the truth but employs imagination as an opportunity for liminality and resonance (Leavy, 2022). It provides a fictional space for destabilising ideological oppressions to play with ‘elements of the familiar and defamiliarize them’ (Turner, 1974, p 60). Rewriting energises the reader and generates alternative perspectives that deepen the research narrative. Writing through role offers the author a distanced perspective and safety within the fiction to express difficult ideas and ask tricky questions (Eriksson, 2007). The section ‘Origin story’ describes how the process of rewriting in role emerged through my doctoral work to become an integral part of my research.

Origin story

My doctoral thesis ‘Dancing through the fourth wall’ (Coleman, 2019) explored the potential for process drama as an enactment of critical pedagogy. Process drama employs drama conventions and techniques to create an immersive fictional drama experience created by and for its participants (Heathcote and O’Neill, 2015). It enables participants to explore questions or provocations and offers an opportunity to reflect on emerging understandings from both inside and outside the drama.