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and modification” (Reitstaetter, Rheindorf & van Leeuwen, 2005, p. 9). Just as importantly,
Berry points out that in selecting a variety of methodological approaches, “…you don’t use
all the parts” (2006, p. 88), instead selecting aspects of each methodology in ways to ensure
the research process maintains strong investigation principles. The commonality that the
methodological approaches selected to form the bricolage approach in this project have, is
that they raise a “critical consciousness about…language practices” (Fairclough & Wodak,
1997, p. 259).
Just as cultural studies emerged as “…the product of a critical reflect based on dissatisfaction
in which philosophy, linguistics, literary criticism, sociology, anthropology, psychology,
history and the like, were leading institutionally separated lives of their own” (Verschueren,
2001, 65), bricolage can be seen to have emerged as a way to bring together methodological
silos, to ensure that appropriate approaches can be combined when one, distinct methodology
does not best serve the purposes of research. Additionally, just as cultural studies, in the view
of Verschueren, looks beyond “…disciplinary boundaries, constraints and vested interests”
(2001, p. 66), the same can be said for bricolage in terms of taking a methodological, rather
than a disciplinary approach to research. Wodak too, recognises the way CDA lends itself to
be used in interdisciplinary contexts, writing CDA “…entails different dimensions of
interdisciplinarity: the theories draw on neighbouring disciplines and try to integrate these
theories…the methodologies are adapted to the data under investigation” (Wodak, 2004, p.
199).
Using a form of bricolage in this project, enables a more rigorous methodology to emerge
than would otherwise be possible by only using CDA or only using historical research and
ignoring important theoretical understandings related to power, ideology, discourse
construction and knowledge acquisition. By stepping beyond imposed disciplinary
boundaries, a combination methodology is used that prevents “rationalistic fragmentation…
[that]…undermines our ability to derive the benefits of multiple perspectives” (Kincheloe,
2004, p. 41). Doing so strengthens data analysis and findings and can result in “…providing
new knowledge, insights, ideas, practices, structures that move towards social justice,
inclusiveness, diversity, plurality and so forth” (Berry, 2006, p. 90)
Bricolage, as used in this research, departs significantly from one of the understandings
Kincheloe and Berry have of this approach, asserting that a strength of bricolage is that it is
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