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approaches, processes of further engagement and experimentation begin, and, as explained by
Lévi-Strauss, aspects of different methodological approaches are integrated, not so that
“…each have of them…have only one definite and determinate use… [but rather]…They
each represent a set of actual and possible relations; they are ‘operators’ but they can be used
for any operations of the same type” (1966, p. 18).
A potential criticism of the use of bricolage in this project is that due to its conservative
application, it could be argued that this methodology does not fit within or align with the
research approach taken in this project. This is especially the case as, aligned with historical
research methods, I do not engage in the use of metaphors, and take a more constructivist
rather than critical approach to knowledge. For example, Kincheloe and McLaren do write
that:
Some connotations of the term (bricolage) involve trickery and cunning and remind
me (Kincheloe) of the chicanery of Hermes, in particular his ambiguity concerning
the messages of the gods…bricolage can also imply the fictive and imaginative
elements of the presentation of all formal research. (2005, p. 316)
To be clear, the use of ‘cunning’ and ‘fictive’ presentation of knowledge is not an aspect of
research selected for this project. Doing so would make it in opposition to and contradict the
scholarship of history methodology and CDA. However, to argue against potential criticism
of the conservative application of bricolage for this project, it can been seen more as a
methodological approach, used in a way that remains considerate to the research paradigms
of CDA (written and visual text analysis) and history methodology; and cognizant of the need
to align with the approaches incorporated in the methodology of this project. In particular,
Denzin and Lincoln in discussing qualitative research and bricolage as a type of multimethods
research affirm:
Qualitative research is inherently multi-method in focus (Flick, 2002, pp. 226-
227)…The combination of multiple methodological practices, empirical materials,
perspectives, and observers in a single study is best understood, then, as a strategy
that adds rigor, breadth, complexity, richness, and depth to any inquiry (see Flick,
2002, p. 229). (2005, p. 5)
Bricolage, then, is used as a way to enrich the findings that emerge from the data by enabling
a variety of methodological, theoretical and philosophical approaches to be adopted and
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