International Association of Qualitative Inquiry

On May 7, 2005, the International Association of Qualitative Inquiry (IAQI) was established during the First International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The founding members were President Norman Denzin, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Vice President Judith Robinson, University of Liverpool; and Treasurer Grant Kien, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The foundation of the IAQI was a response to the desire of many members of the international qualitative inquiry community for an organization that would facilitate the global development of qualitative inquiry and could actively speak on behalf of the interests and concerns of qualitative researchers. In keeping with these ends, the IAQI seeks to foster shared learning and to advocate and lobby on behalf of qualitative research methods and findings that have a broader social justice agenda.

To discuss the governance and direction of the organization, the IAQI convenes annually during the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry. Throughout the year, a volunteer-based international advisory committee works to address issues raised at the annual meeting and to provide representation in specific regional and interest-based dialogues.

As of January 2007, less than 2 years after its launch, the IAQI's membership consisted of more than 1,000 members from more than 55 nations. In addition to a membership listserv, the IAQI produces the IAQI Newsletter, a quarterly publication that keeps members informed about upcoming conferences, publications, calls for papers, and professional opportunities regarding qualitative inquiry. The IAQI has also partnered with scholarly presses to advance the dissemination of qualitative methodologies. At the time of this writing, negotiations are under way to establish a journal for the [Page 451]IAQI. Furthermore, the IAQI maintains an archive of white papers making policy recommendations based on the findings and principles guiding qualitative inquiry.

The IAQI takes an interdisciplinary standpoint spanning the fields of educational policy research, the humanities, communications, health care, social science, social welfare, business, and law. It continues to promote discussions that foreground performative, feminist, Indigenous, queer, democratic, and participatory modes of critical ethical inquiry that question the notions of research, science, and ethics as put forth by traditional methodologies.