Reflections and directions

Abstract

[Extract] All readers who have considered the autobiographies presented in the preceding pages are likely to have formed impressions of the researchers and their careers. The final section of this monograph provides my personal synthesis of some themes arising in these accounts. The views offered here are those of a participant observer rather than an outsider. Of course, as Simmel (1950) observed, the outsider can view any community through fresh eyes. If the themes I explore in the following remarks are not entirely the same as those identified by some readers, then that can be taken as a healthy sign that this monograph has at least prompted some unique engagement. First, the chapter draws together select observations from the autobiographies and provides links to the works of others who could not participate in this endeavor. Second, the discussion considers the more immediate future for the kinds of studies and interest areas pioneered by the representative authors.