Impossibilities of Reconciliation: Validity in Mixed Theory Projects

Abstract

This article discusses how validity and truth claims, which are often based on singular theoretical and philosophical assumptions, are negotiated within qualitative research practices created at the intersection of two theoretical perspectives. The article asks, What are the possibilities and impossibilities of validity established within the discursive fields that form and shape mixed theory projects? More specifically, this article explores how mixed theory projects are theoretically and methodologically created and consequently, how shifting discourses shape the validity claims. The author argues that critical and deconstructive ethnography are both variations of the same theme. This theme is a part of a constellation that does not aim to unify theoretical perspectives; instead, it limits some of the dangers of Othering by promoting ways of knowing that escape normativity and essentializing discourses.