6.1 POST-EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

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6 POST RESEARCH
This research revealed the urgency to develop counter narratives on the fluid boundaries of the professional and amateur context. This made me decide to experiment with the possibilities within and after this research to find these counter narratives. I did this first by unlearning my own research and second by experimenting with a counter narrative alongside the official presentation of this research.

6.1 POST-EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

The GO TO THE MOON AND BACK workshop revealed the complex and ambiguous nature of unlearning. This made me question what happens during the process of unlearning. What new knowledge or insights does it generate? I took this research to the moon and back. My process transformed into a narrative about the journey. I wrote down the story; called ‘A counter narrative GO TO THE MOON AND BACK’. This fairytale could be regarded as the counter narrative to this thesis. The fable provided a ‘safe’ space for experimenting with concepts, notions, and elements that only appeared in the vacuum of this research and that I couldn’t touch within my ‘expert’ framework. In other words, conducting research is about shaping solid elements. This is an active process that releases small particles of essential information; they are floating into the vacuum space as real ‘material’, but seem unable to exist within the professional context (of this research). Unlearning and operating on fluid boundaries re-connected to this information. It is being published as a counter-narrative complementary to this thesis. This thesis is searching for the opaque and fluid boundaries  -blurring realities between the real real’ and the ‘unreal real’ (Dunne and Raby, 2013, p.159)- that allows the counter-narrative to exist. I did this by creating references within the theoretical framework and educational project to my ‘amators’, which are ‘dust’, the ‘galaxy’, ‘pirates’ and ‘amateurs’. These references are loopholes and a gateway to the ‘A counter narrative GO TO THE MOON AND BACK’.

The main conclusion of my process of unlearning is that the absurdity of truly imagining being on the moon can propose radical new ideas because I am disconnected from the reality of my ‘expert box’. This required taking risks, leaving the comfort zone, and trusting my innate capabilities. In this research I tried to be become an expert with expert insights. However I experienced unlearning this thesis as well. There is a radical potential of new knowledge by conducting research as ‘an amateur and an expert’. How can this be further explored within the academic framework? This will be a continuing journey for me to explore.

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