Abstract

This article is both an argument for and an example of portraiture, a methodology for conducting and presenting qualitative research which, though familiar to many social scientists and educational researchers, remains relatively unknown within the humanities. The author details one kind of practice within the scholarship of teaching and learning — a study of a transformational learning experience — that calls for the framework of the research portrait, and suggests further possibilities for this framework, particularly within area studies, cultural studies, and world languages and literatures. Numerous advantages of portraiture are demonstrated and discussed, including the de-marginalization of the research subject, the facilitation of interdisciplinary practice, and the further integration of the teacher—researcher’s professional responsibilities and identities