Innovative Inquiry

The Initiative for Innovative Inquiry promotes the exploration of human communication through methodologies, epistemologies and alternative representations of knowledge. We seek to stretch the boundaries of our traditional and foundational approaches for research.

We believe that advanced research, teaching and public discussion of communication in today's society must interrogate the very means by which we conduct and represent our knowledge. We seek to make the concepts we study accessible and useable to a wide range of publics, and desire to establish Arizona State University as a hub for developing methodologies, exploring the articulation of innovative epistemologies and creating alternative representation of our questions and findings.

The Initiative for Innovative Inquiry is a component of the I-4C Collective, a new initiative of the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication.

Innovative Inquiry Previous Events

2013-2014:

Out of the Box - June 1-4, 2013
A meaningful three-day engagement with other scholars who enjoy grappling with the issues of representation, embodiment, and social engagement, using new and creative methods and adaptations of familiar methodologies. Guest scholars Jeanine Mingé, California State University-Northridge, and Amy Kilgard, San Francisco State University, will perform original works based on their ethnographic and performance studies research.

Civil Dialogue creator and Hugh Downs School alumnus, John Genette, will share the method with participants as they broach questions connected to the statement, "Creative Scholars in Today's American Universities are Changing the World One Student at a Time."

Amira de la Garza, Hugh Downs School associate professor and Southwest Borderlands scholar in intercultural communication and performance ethnography, will lead a workshop in the "PEQuA" methodology that uses an adaptation of 'playback' performance to increase understanding of blind spots and triggers in one's ethnographic research.

"Design & Thinking", a documentary film January 8, 2013
sponsored by the Initiative on Innovative Inquiry

2011-2012:

Zocolo/Cal Humanities "Searching for Democracy" event - July 16, 2012
Jennifer Linde, panelist, "Is Civility Overrated?" C-Span video library

Accessing Civility - Arizona Forum on Civil Communication - February 3-4, 2012
Can we improve the ballot initiative process? Lessons from Oregon

Participatory Governance Initiative, Arizona State University - March 7, 2012