(draft) My artistic practice outside of CSM is very much research led, focussing on projects which harness participation and public engagement, from crowdsourcing, working with visual ethnography techniques to participatory youth led initiatives. I am naturally drawn to participatory research methods, and I would also like to know more about Auto-ethnography.
However, it’s a bit of a shift thinking about applying these methods in the context of pedagogy of the University classroom. Previous projects have been self directed, without a need for a measured research outcome, and sometimes with community partners. So I’m keen to understand more about how research can more concretely generate social impact from within an institutional setting. And to be clear that for this project, the stakeholders here are the students, and the field is education, as opposed to a cultural question leading an initiative (though social impact may have been loosely embedded in previous projects) But I wonder if there can still be some overlap?
There are a few key issues I have observed within my teaching that I would like to better and understand in order to impact change. But, for this post I’m going to focus on just the methods I have done introductory reading notes on.
Arts Based Action Research
I read about Arts Based Action Research by Timo Jokela & Maria Huhmarniem, which really resonated, as it looked at the potential for the role of the artist teacher to overlap.
Artists and art teachers are often multidisciplinary in terms of their identities and roles. Their professional skills often involve an artist’s skills, a teacher’s pedagogic skills, and the skills to develop methods by means of research.”1
Art-based action research in the development work of arts and art education
The paper also introduces a/r/tography, a method devised by Professor Rita Irwin,
“a/r/tography is that practice and theoretical re- search run in parallel, and the research topics are situated in the middle ground of teaching, art, and communities”2
It’s interesting to see how in this cycle, the projects ends with a focus group. ? I would have assumed it would be the other way around. How could this technique be used as part of my project, but perhaps it’s more about the group themselves evaluating.
Artist-researchers experience a need for space and freedom in order to find their own methods. This may be due to the nature of artistic knowledge and the research questions typical of artistic research (McNiff, 2013). In art-based action re- search, the artist-researcher does not wander alone, but instead development work is usually carried out in some kind of team or community.”3
I really identified with the need for freedom to find methods. Though there isn’t a huge amount of space and time to find methods in this timeframe! I also think it will be important to understand how I can connect to a wider community of researchers through this project
Participatory action research (PAR)
“Engaging students in emergent knowledge creation helps ensure that what they are learning is relevant to their lives.”
I am interested in the potential of PAR research not first and foremost to communicate with academic experts but rather to inform grassroots collective action. I am drawn to its potential to engage students as co-researchers to identify issues with, so they can be better understood.
PAR is a collaborative, iterative, often open-ended and unpredictable endeavour, which prioritises the expertise of those experiencing a social issue and uses systematic research methodologies to generate new insights” 4
“PAR by definition is political because it de-centers the professionalized university-based knower, centers participant-researchers as experts’
However, it important to note the danger of depoliticising PAR it, especially in University settings “PAR is particularly sensitive to co-optation in university settings because, while universities are sites of possibility and critical learning, they also reproduce and sometimes further entrench hierarchies and injustices”
I also wonder about how feasible it will be to use PAR in this context? It will depend on the specifics of project, but it’s a very short timeframe to be able to set up a working group.
Nonetheless, I’m interested in the ethos of PAR. But perhaps this inform the project in other ways?
“ a narrative approach to empowerment in which community and personal narratives are important psychological resources (Rappaport, 1995); conscientization, understood as people coming together to share stories about their struggles and concerns facilitating a systemic analysis rather than internalization of oppression,“
On reflection, both of PAR and Arts Based Research seem more suited to a long term projects rather than the short turnaround intervention and action we’re planning to do!