Qualitative thinking and writing with whisky: Malt metaphors and island hopping

Stanley, Phiona; Clarke, Daniel

Abstract

The aim of this workshop is to radically situate the participants in the stories and senses of Scottish single malt whiskies, exploring meanings and metaphors that whisky suggests and considering its place in different aspects of Scottish life (bearing in mind that whisky comes from the Gaelic term uisge beatha, meaning the water of life). Whisky is integral to Scottish identities: it permeates a complex history and many facets of our present-day culture. This workshop as a lived experience is about the thinking and writing possibilities of sensing, sampling, and learning about whisky, focusing on some unusual malts from Scottish islands. We welcome those who do, and those who don’t, already drink whisky. We welcome Scots and non-Scots, ancestral Scots and people with no Scottish connections. We welcome those who would like to think differently about —and differently with— whisky. We welcome those whose qualitative writing is thirsty for prompts and invitations to take a flight in new directions.


In the workshop, we explore three theoretical writing provocations inspired by four different whiskies (one of the three provocations will have two whisky pairings). The three writing invitations are: (i) placemaking and the land; (ii) affective materialities and/of personal connections to places, people, and moments; and (iii) the writing of embodied, assemblage-integrated lived experiences. We ask: What does whisky do to a researcher’s bodymind? How do the stories and metaphors whisky evoke affect the researcher's bodymind and the resultant writing? How do we sense whisky —smells, colours, and tastes, but also histories and locations— and what states of knowing, being, and becoming does this sensing activate? The workshop is experimental, in that we offer writing, storytelling, and bodily and sensory exercises, along with drams from various island distilleries.

Citation

Stanley, P., & Clarke, D. (2025, January). Qualitative thinking and writing with whisky: Malt metaphors and island hopping. Presented at 8th European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Edinburgh

• Presentation Conference Type: Keynote
• Conference Name: 8th European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry
• Start Date: Jan 7, 2025
• End Date: Jan 10, 2025
• Deposit Date: Feb 3, 2025
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/4104911
• External URL: https://ecqi.hss.ed.ac.uk/en/workshop-10-pm/