Mazzei on “voice” in interpretivism

Mazzei, L.A. (2017). Following the contour of concepts toward a minor inquiry. Qualitative Inquiry pp. 1-11,
DOI: 10.1177/107780041772535

“A major mode of traditional qualitative research fixes meaning by extracting constants through the act of representation. A minor mode in the inquiry that I have imagined refuses such fixity.” p. 5

“A Deleuzian ontology provides a shift away from the indi-
vidual as the unit of inquiry to inquiry that presupposes the
subject as a relational process. Voice is no longer something
to be retrieved to provide an account of a participant’s expe-
rience, rather it emerges through relationality. That is, indi-
vidual elements in the assemblage are not single sources of
knowledge. Following the contours of Deleuze and
Guattari’s politics, collectivity emerges. No longer a per-
sonal account constrained by a body, a space, a time, or an
individual utterance, voice in a minor inquiry is an entan-
glement of all these relations.” p.5

“By the problem of voice, I refer to an assumption that voice can speak the truth of consciousness and experience as has been practiced within an
interpretivist project. Voice is not a problem to be solved per se, but a minor inquiry invites a different enactment that problematizes notions and practices that further reinscribe the inadequacies and deficiencies of voice.” p. 5