Khuloooma! 2010

Critical reflection:

Third time lucky...

In my attempt to learn a new skill from my mother I tried to learn how to bake decorative cakes as cakes and birthdays strike memories from my childhood of happiness, love and family. There are many great memories that I hold onto as my parents have split up and these family events happen seldom and far between. I remember the excitement of the parties and the enjoyment of the treats-the themed Birthday cakes!

I wanted to learn this skill to enable me to bake like my mom did and decorate them as artistically as she did, to allow my children to experience the fulfilment I was able to have.

It also enabled me to use this baking time as a period of discussion and as a tool to aid discussion of many things I wanted to talk to my mom about relating to past emotions I felt as a child and many questions I wanted to know.

Therefore this experience was very enlightening on the knowledge side, yet honestly speaking I have not got the baking practise down to a tee yet. My first two attempts failed, but my third was lucky...let’s see how it tastes tomorrow.

Spending time with my mom and learning a skill from her taught me how to understand instead of judge, as well as respect her and appreciate what she did for us when we were young. It taught me that in my practise you need to listen to your subject matter and to be open minded and not judge. As well as to gain insight by being a researcher and take a step back and to not let your emotions blur your findings (To not let your emotions create a barrier to gaining insight).

Interviews and continuous discussion with a subject matter as a form of research methodology allows you to gain or collect qualitative information, and continuous discussion allows information to pass easier and more freely as more information comes into mind once certain questions are answered which triggers other questions that you did not think of during that discussion and then can ask it in the next ‘meeting’. And with repeated visits and discussions with a stranger this can build a relationship. Thus interviews, discussion and repeated visits are a great way to collect qualitative information about a subject which can aid to your primary research as a researcher.

Let’s go back to the soccer World Cup now shall we....only 52 more days to go till kick off J

Casey