Reflections in Detroit: The Personal Essay as Epistemological Method

Authors

Greg Wurm, Brigham Young University
Joey Franklin, Brigham Young University

Keywords

reflections in Detroit, personal essay, epistemological method

College

Humanities

Department

English

Abstract

The purpose of my project was to explore and demonstrate how the personal essay could be used as more than just a literary form of the humanities, but as an epistemological method in the social sciences. I built off the work of Dr. Andrew Abbott, of the University of Chicago, who, in 2007, proposed what he called “lyrical sociology.” In his piece, “Against Narrative: A Preface to Lyrical Sociology,” he described that a lyrical sociology sought to “communicate its author’s emotional stance toward his or her object of study, rather than to ‘explain’ that object.” The personal essay has also been shown to be an effective tool to investigate one’s emotions, and therefore, as I argued, could also be an effective way of accomplishing the aims put forth by Abbott.

Recommended Citation

Wurm, Greg and Franklin, Joey (2017) "Reflections in Detroit: The Personal Essay as Epistemological Method," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2017: Iss. 1, Article 157.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2017/iss1/157