10 - Conclusions

Summary

One of the challenges in writing any textbook – and this one is certainly no exception – is the need to build a continuous narrative out of what are often only fragments of stories, originally told to different audiences and for different purposes. Like any other search for thematic or theoretical continuity, the writing of a book on any field of inquiry entails an attempt to construct both an object of study and a method out of usually quite diverse traditions. If the work is done properly, readers should be able to see a synthesis or at least a common thread that ties together the different traditions and projects an image whose outline can be easily recognized, critically appraised, and remembered. If the work is done poorly, readers might see bits and pieces but be unable to make them into a whole. In this concluding chapter, I will take up the challenge of facing the question of the whole. I will do this by foregrounding some of the questions raised and some of the ones just implied throughout the previous chapters. I will not engage, however, in an attempt to summarize what I wrote in previous chapters. While looking back, I will try to give a sense of the future, a future that hopefully some of my readers will be involved in constructing.