ABSTRACT
In this chapter I seek to draw attention to the work of French feminist philosopher Simone Weil, and in particular, her notion of “attention” and the relevance of her thinking and wondering for feminist autoethnography. Paying “attention”, according to Simone Weil, means waiting, watching and suspending thought so that we might be able to respond more fully and with humanity to others and difference. Set around and inspired by the moment of presenting a keynote at a doctoral conference in education titled, “Research, what’s your impact?”, the words research and impact become entangled with and slip between writing and method in the context of “post” thinking and wondering about how we might word the world in, through and with feminist autoethnography. In this piece I seek to highlight the way in which paying attention to words with Simone Weil might strengthen our capacity to live a more wise, loving, response-able and non-violent life as we seek to word the world as feminist autoethnographers in the post-qualitative moment we find ourselves.
