Beyond Triangulation: Reconstructing Mandela’s Writing Life through Propulsive Facilitation at the Archive

Multimethod studies generally fall under what are referred to as “confirmatory” or “complementary” approaches. Yet in addition to these two approaches, Hammersley (1996) identifies a third, which he refers to as “facilitation.” In this paper, we build on Hammersley’s observation and argue that methods can be used propulsively, setting the researcher down whole new paths. We first put this observation in conversation with other recent works and pragmatist theorizing. We then use the archive as a point of departure to show the value of such an approach. Specifically, we use our investigation of the archives at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in Johannesburg, South Africa as a site to show how we used propulsive facilitation to engage with and make sense of materials relating to Mandela’s memoirs.