Introduction: Qualitative inquiry in the public sphere

Where to even begin? Donald Trump. Brexit. Acts of terrorism in Europe. Syrian civil war. Global refugee crises. Gun violence and mass shootings in the United States. Horrifying hurricane damage in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Nuclear threats by North Korea. The ongoing denial of climate change and scientific knowledge. And these are just the above-the-fold storylines that have carried the day over the last 18 months, to say nothing of cyber attacks on critical digital systems and infrastructure, ethnic cleansing in Myanmar, widespread corporate and political corruption, and global economic uncertainty. Without question, we are all-to different degrees and extents-situated within and against a world that is seemingly on edge, crying out for help, unraveling at the seams. It provokes us to ask, once again, about our role in the world-about how as qualitative researchers we might go about effecting change.