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My initial writing and critique of grounded theory (GT) was undertaken in complete ignorance of Kathy Charmaz's work. Subsequently, I made contact with her and was delighted to receive a warm and collegial response, something I came to understand was an essential part of her nature. In our ensuing collaboration, which included the two Grounded Theory Methodology (GTM) Handbooks, my understanding of the method increased, thanks to her deep insights and extensive knowledge and familiarity with those writing about the method far and wide. But far more important was the way in which our friendship and partnership helped me appreciate and understand the depth and value of her significant contributions to ideas about camaraderie, research and social justice.

This contribution argues that Kathy Charmaz's career did not burst into full intellectual bloom until the last 25 years of her life – from 55 to her death at 80. I examine why and how this scholarly blossoming happened so late in her life and the nature of its many manifestations, especially research on a wide variety of social justice issues. After her initial focus on medical sociology, specializing in chronic illness, Kathy became an innovative and renowned qualitative methodologist, developing constructivist grounded theory (CGT) method taken up in many amazingly heterogeneous scholarly fields transnationally.

In this chapter honouring Professor Kathy Charmaz, her scholarship and her mentorship, I explore the impact of her work on my thinking and research. Specifically, I focus on the translation of her constructivist principles into my, and others', grounded theory methodological practice. Following the introduction, the chapter commences with a reflection upon coming across constructivist grounded theory (CGT) for the first time almost 20 years ago, and my excitement at finding a methodology that so well aligned with my social justice-oriented research. Already ‘seduced’ by (classical) grounded theory, I had been uncomfortable and wrestling with its problematic philosophical underpinnings, and Kathy's work provided an intriguing solution. This section also briefly reviews CGT's main features, including Kathy's central emphasis on critical reflexivity, interpretation and context, the researcher–participant relationship and the co-construction of knowledge with participants, whilst maintaining a focus on conceptual development. In Section Three, I examine the ‘translation’ of Kathy's constructivist principles into my and others' reflexive grounded theory methodological practice, focusing particularly on issues of researcher positionality/ies and participant involvement. I also consider the ways in which I am further extending these ideas in my ongoing CGT research, including in relation to researcher self-disclosure. In the concluding section, I observe that Kathy's scholarship not only put grounded theory on a new epistemological basis but also established constructivist GT's axiological foundation. I end with a reflection upon the legacy of her ‘curiosity and wonder’ as a scholar of the social world, her legendary mentorship and her generosity of spirit.

Constructivist grounded theory method (GTM) as outlined by Kathy Charmaz has its explicit roots in the American pragmatism and symbolic interactionism primarily developed at the University of Chicago during the early and mid-twentieth century. Symbolic interactionism considers people as active and interpretative agents who co-construct selves, identities, meanings, social actions, social worlds, and societies through interactions. Charmaz argues that symbolic interactionism is an open-ended theoretical perspective that fosters studying action, process, and meanings, with a focus on how people co-construct and negotiate meanings, orders, and actions in their everyday lives. In this chapter, I argue that constructivist GTM, including its theory-method package built upon symbolic interactionism and the Chicago School tradition, can be further combined with the new sociology of childhood to study children's social worlds and negotiated meanings, orders, and actions.

By reconstructing the meanings, contexts, interests, and topics of conversation held over the years with Kathy Charmaz, this short tribute conceptualizes the indigenization of the Grounded Theory Methodology (GTM) from a position of methodological innocence. The main question is about the existence of a global methodology useful for and applicable to all cultures regardless of local epistemologies, theoretical developments, conceptual histories, and methodological legacies existing in each nation. Acknowledging the development of American pragmatism and its effects on the construction of GTM, the way in which divergent epistemological perspectives can affect the research practice conducted by using this methodological approach is explored here. The originality of Charmaz's contribution on the internationalization of GTM is explored from our conversations imbued with my vision as a Spanish-speaking thinker. Arguing about cover-science was productive in opening paths toward the recognition of a virgin field that demanded our attention. This short tribute is an invitation to continue a journey of discovery on the geopolitics of science and on the local or global application of knowledge generated through specific research methodologies. Indigenous grounded theory research can still be a point of axial tension between different options that need to be explored soon to choose the most appropriate one for today's troubled times. During the years to come, the brilliant presence of Charmaz will illuminate the necessary critical reflection on the particularities of practicing GTM in different societies and cultures other than the American one.

I write my way into Kathy Charmaz' biography, offering an ode to her life-long, to project bring the mind, body, and self of the researcher, OT therapist and the chronically ill person together in the interpretive process.

Kathy Charmaz, a developer of constructivist grounded theory (CGT), advocated the use of grounded theory as a tool to attain social justice through research. We developed the grounded text mining approach (GTxA) method by integrating Charmaz's CGT with text mining. This technique is aimed at facilitating the systematic and comprehensive understanding of textual data. GTxA helps researchers engage in abductive reasoning by encouraging them to transition between CGT and text mining analyses. This chapter illustrates an example of how GTxA was utilized when a group of researchers analyzed depositions and semi-structured interview data of a defendant in an actual criminal case in Japan and, thus, detected the possibility of a coerced false confession. The chapter concludes by encouraging researchers to utilize GTxA for attaining social justice.

Kathy Charmaz, who survived against all odds and eventually to become an internationally acclaimed qualitative researcher, demonstrated extraordinary resilience and intellect. In this chapter, I describe the ways she lived through her early life, her beginning research as a student, and how she managed the trials of academic life while making an international contribution to understanding the experiences of the chronically ill. In the process she developed Constructivist Grounded Theory, refining her qualitative methods, making them accessible to all, and producing findings that changed the course of qualitive health research.

In this Festschrift, written and shared to celebrate the life and work of Dr Kathy Charmaz, I draw upon both personal reflections and Kathy's extensive writings to showcase Kathy's contributions to my personal research journey and to the field of qualitative research methodology. I examine the intersection of constructivist grounded theory and social justice research, an important theme of Kathy's work and research. I discuss three components of constructivist grounded theory that support social justice research: researcher reflexivity, prioritizing participants, and the importance of context. I share examples from my own work showing how these three facets of constructivist grounded theory contributed to an unintended yet much appreciated social justice thread in my research. My hope is through my reflection, other researchers, who were not able to meet and interact with Kathy, will be able to understand and appreciate her influence and impact, and her view of research as a responsive, flexible, and meaningful process.