Taking Social Justice to a Different Stage

Abstract

Knowledge creation through art has the potential to serve as an emancipatory approach in health research, education, and practice by promoting connection and dialogue; challenging dominant paradigms of knowledge; and legitimizing, empowering, and promoting traditionally marginalized voices. Poetry, as one art form, may be an effective method for promoting reflexivity, critical thinking, empathy, and a heightened understanding of social justice issues among students and professionals. This research explored poetry as a means of advancing health equity and social justice through the feedback shared by a group of participants who attended a poetry workshop titled, “Taking Social Justice to a Different Stage: How Poetry Promotes Emancipatory Health Narratives”. The data consists of quantitative and qualitative responses from pre- and post- workshop surveys. The quantitative results indicate that after the workshop, participants were less likely to believe that poetry should only be used to entertain, and were more likely to believe that poetry is a powerful method for promoting health equity. The qualitative analysis reveals multiple themes in participant responses from the post-workshop survey: 1) empowerment; 2) connection and perspective sharing; and 3) social justice promotion through arts-based methods. These results indicate that poetry may promote different forms of knowing, foster emotional connection and perspective sharing, and create more awareness about health inequities and social justice issues. Hence, poetry may be a valuable addition to health care research and education, and the promotion of social justice.