ABSTRACT
When a reflective practitioner converts an existing phenomenon into a new way of seeing that phenomenon, we call this reframing. Reframing is an emergent process. This chapter synthesises emergence theory with Schön’s concepts from reflection-in-action to aid the practitioner researcher in generating new insights within, and across, the dimensions of practice and research. I draw on my prior work in perceptual emergence to demonstrate a cycle for emergent reflection-in-action. Emergence is broadly understood as when something new or unexpected arises out of a given set of conditions. 1 The chapter focuses on mechanisms for making emergence happen within reflection-in-action and a set of emergent techniques that can be used as moves to generate reframing are proposed. My experience as a creative practitioner, researcher and a supervisor of Higher Degree Researchers informs a discussion of how this has been implemented, providing examples of emergent reframing in practice-based research efforts that range from ideation to thematic analysis, with mechanisms from Gestalts to data displays.
