Diffractive inquiring, or how I came to care

Drawing on classical pragmatist, feminist technoscience, and care ethics literatures – and in particular the writings of Karen Barad, Donna Haraway, Milton Mayeroff, and John Dewey – this chapter explores the ongoing and generative interplay of diffractive inquiring (DI) – an experimental, difference-oriented noticing of affect and effect in empirical encounters. Central to DI is abductive logic, ethical practising, and fidelity to experience. DI offers possibilities for a different – ontologically processual – experience of knowing, where everything is moving, and in the making; and where data is beyond categorisation. In three performative vignettes on care ethics, the author shows how, in noticing differently and noticing difference, an ethos of caring emerges through everyday social experiences, including emotions and relationships, leading to consequential collaborative action.