The Storytellers' Journeys: A Study Using Portraiture Method

Abstract

The Storytellers' Journeys: A Study Using Portraiture Method is an in-depth study of three highly recognized storytellers, Michael Lacapa, Patricia Preciado Martin, and Joe Hayes. These artists were studied using a qualitative research method developed by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot called portraiture. Portraitists study individuals to record their experiences and to interpret their perspectives. The main purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which professional struggles were considered barriers, preventing access to a career or to career goals. I developed questions that allowed me to gather information concerning the storytellers' professional struggles and their style of dealing with those struggles. I also probed for their individual definition of success, the measuring stick they use as a determination of their success, and if they relied on perseverance to reach their level of success. I tape-recorded interviews with the storytellers in order to transcribe them. I acquired supplemental data by attending the storytellers' public performances and by referring to published information about them. After critically reviewing the data I organized it into thematic areas. Each of the storytellers was treated individually. Lawrence-Lightfoot says, "The development of emergent themes reflects the portraitist's first efforts to bring interpretive insight, analytic scrutiny, and aesthetic order to the collection of data" (1997c, pg. 185). Initially, the three artists said that they did not have to contend with professional obstacles to reach their level of success. However, the analysis of the in-depth interviews showed that all the storytellers dealt with professional complications, but they did not allow those complications to interfere with their goals. In fact, one of the artists merely cited those situations as "dues that needed to be paid." Because the portraiture method encourages researchers to include themselves in their studies, I became the fourth storyteller in the project. I did the same introspective process about my careers that I asked of the other storytellers. My self-analysis supported some of the results I obtained from the other artists but it also showed some differences. These differences are explored in the dissertation.