Generating Jennifer - Her Story

Jennifer Moyle

“Can You Be Whatever You Want?” – Is an ontological enquiry that is examined within the pluralistic dynamic framework offered through Creative Analytical Practice (CAP) Ethnography and Constructivist Grounded Theory, bringing together what might be known empirically, as well as what might be learned through evocative writing. Set in a context of an ‘age of possibilities’, we are instilled with the belief that we can be whatever we want. However, this dogma is unchecked and under theorised, particularly when our unique ancestral histories, and the circumstances we find ourselves existing in can seem to play a role in who we become. In what ways, for example, are our choices defined by the cloth from which we’re cut? Can hessian1 really go to the ball? In answering these questions four of my ancestral lines were examined, documenting the people within it and who they had become. Specifically, I investigated their choices within their own socio-cultural realities and time, identified patterns through and across the generations, and reflected on how their lived experiences have impacted on my life and the parameters of possibility that exist for me. Crafted as autoethnographic factions, the individual stories emerging from this process were compacted and coded, resulting in the construction of a ‘Can You Be Whatever You Want? Parameters of Possibility Diagram’. This graphic representation demonstrates that our choices are confined by our collective ancestry, the platform of existence from which we are born, and a dizzying array of internal and external forces that can either enable or disable our occupational aspirations. I have wanted to be many things, some of which have been realised and some that have not, the reasons for which are now clearer to me. Hessian can go to the ball, but they dance in jute and not silk, and don’t always know the right dance steps.

Generating Jennifer - Her Story

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