Dr Donna Thomas

Donna is exploring with Children, the nature of self and experience. In social research we are often asked to explore how people relate to themselves, others and the world. In qualitative work this, more-often-than-not, tends to involve collecting personal or ‘lived’ experiences of people. A spectrum of concepts is available for use by social researchers, to capture what is meant by the ‘I’ of someone’s experience. Words such as ‘identity’, ‘subject’, ‘agent, ‘ego’ and ‘person’. Ideas of ‘self’ are largely dependent upon the school of thought in which analysis and interpretation are rooted. As the orthodoxy of postmodernism becomes increasingly challenged by posthuman theories, new definitions of ‘self’ are starting to emerge. Self and subjectivity are concepts that are vital to social research. How these concepts are understood, determines to what extent individuals exercise influence over their bodies, space, and lives. As debates frame social research, concerned with ‘ethics’, ‘identity’ and ‘agency’, what is meant by the subject of experience is given little attention. Who and where is the ‘I’ that social researchers seek to understand? Donna explores with children the 'I' of experience and what 'self' is to them. The research considers a spectrum of human experience, exploring with children 'ordinary' and 'non-ordinary' experiences. With children, a range of interdisciplinary research methods are used to develop more meaningful approaches. The research is intended to inform service, system and policy development.