Arts-based Methodology Research Articles

Exploring Autoethnographic and Arts-Based Approaches to Planetary Health: Honoring Diversity through Creativity, Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Loving Relationships

The complexity of contemporary global challenges concerning biosocial–political wellbeing comprises humanity’s actions on many scales. Planetary Health and One Health are examples of broad fields emerging in the last decade to address these complexities. Scientific research has been focusing mainly on the biological aspect of the problem, and the role of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) as drivers of change in Planetary Health is poorly explored. Transdisciplinary approaches are needed, and, thus, it is essential to highlight the social–political side of this reality by integrating social sciences and humanities in these research communities. The Africa Community of Planetary Partners for Health and Environment (ACOPPHE), through its Art and Indigenous action team, seeks to explore this integration by interrogating and engaging in research using self-study methodologies and arts-based research methods. In traditional scientific research, it is common practice that the researcher is positioned outside of their research. The results are expected to offer complex scientific answers that are often not useful for communities in need of solutions. Frequently, the arts have not received sufficient exploration as a means for research. Another aspect of this problem is that the indigenous peoples of many places in the world have often had their knowledge of human and planet health marginalized because it was practice-based and passed down through the embodiment of knowledge and not through modern-day written knowledge. Autoethnographic and arts-based methodologies have great potential here in bridging the communication between the scientific world and the lived experience of the communities through their cultural and traditional practices. They make room for intersectionality, as well as making the knowledge from research findings valuable and explicit to the layman. Self-study methodologies offer the space for sharing lived experiences, critical dialogue, and possible solutions for the biosocial and political issues that our world faces today.

Suicide as slow death: towards a haunted sociology of suicide.

Sociological research on suicide has tended to favour functionalist approaches, and quantitative methods. This paper argues for an alternative engagement - drawing on interpretive paradigms, and inspired by 'live' methodologies, we make an argument for a haunted sociology of suicide. This approach, informed by Avery Gordon's haunted sociological imagination and Lauren Berlant's concept of slow death, works between the structural realities of inequalities in suicide rates and the more (in)tangible affects of suicide as they are lived. These theoretical engagements are illustrated through an empirical study which used collaborative, arts-based discussion groups about suicide. The groups were held with 14 people, all affected in different ways by suicide, and attending a community-based mental health centre in a semi-rural location in Scotland, UK. A narrative-informed analysis of data generated through these groups shows the creative potential of both arts-based methodologies, and interpretive sociologies, in deepening understanding of how inequalities in rates of suicide may be experienced and made sense of. We illustrate this via two related metaphors ('the point' and 'the edge') which recurred in the data. Our analysis underlines the vital relevance of sociology to suicide studies - and the urgent need for diverse sociological engagement and action on this topic.

Through the Survivor’s Lens: A Photovoice Inquiry and Grounded Theory of Child Sex Trafficking

ABSTRACT Survivors of child sex trafficking are at increased risk for negative physical and mental health outcomes. However, there is a paucity of systematic research examining the lived experiences of commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC). Notably absent from the discourse are the voices of CSEC. This study explored the experiences of CSEC using a participatory, qualitative, and arts-based methodology. Fifteen survivors of domestic child sex trafficking, located in the southern continental United States, participated in a Photovoice project to establish a comprehensive understanding of their life experiences before, during, and after exploitation. These themes were included in a larger grounded theory analysis to produce The CSEC Model of Exploitation, a substantive theory of recovery from childhood commercial sexual exploitation, co-created by survivors of child sex trafficking, that describes risk and resiliency factors. This study provides information that is relevant to the prevention of child sexual exploitation, the clinical treatment of survivors, and advocacy initiatives.

Layered Methodologies: Innovating Multimodal Qualitative Research in Liver Transplantation

BackgroundThere is a growing interest in qualitative methodologies for understanding complexities in the lived experience of liver transplantation. Frequently, such studies explore quality of life and offer insights for integrating patient-oriented outcomes into conventional research strategies. The scope of qualitative research in liver transplantation tends to be limited, however, with respect to engagement with critical theories, leaving certain aspects of lived experience unexamined. MethodsThe authors describe the process of layering multiple modes of critical qualitative research in liver transplantation, exploring how experiences in liver transplantation are structured discursively and what aspects of recipients’ stories are not easily spoken or shared. This study pairs a critical discourse analysis of patient manuals from a Canadian liver transplant program with digital storytelling with liver transplant recipients. ResultsA homogenous narrative emerges from patient manuals that does not adequately capture the complexity of lived experience of liver transplant survivors. Digital storytelling opens new narrative possibilities by layering sensory aspects of the transplant experience, which are often difficult to articulate through words. This complicates common ideas of survivorship, who is considered a “good” patient, and the cultural scripts that transplant stories frequently engage. ConclusionCritical qualitative research offers opportunities for understanding structures of power embedded within biomedical transplant narratives. Layering qualitative and arts-based methodologies within a framework of co-creation can shift knowledge/power relations while also intervening through material-discursive practices to offer novel insights and opportunities for critical reflection on transplant experiences for recipients, families, and healthcare providers.

Searching for Métis Research Methodologies

Métis research methodologies have not always been valued. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) outlined 94 Calls to Action to privilege Indigenous perspectives, and likely provided the impetus for a shift in which scholarship seeking to reclaim, define, explore, validate, and amplify Indigenous Research Methodologies (IRM) exists. Articulating Métis specific methodologies is congruent with the common research process of aligning all aspects of the research process. Because limited research with Métis women is documented, it is an area for contribution. This paper aims to explore documented Métis methodologies and contribute a Métis arts-based methodology for an upcoming doctoral research project.

Multimodal artistic recreations of the ecological university in the Global South

ABSTRACT This article describes how a group of language undergraduates in a local university in the periphery in the Global South conceptualised and enacted the notion of the ‘ecological university’. Theoretically grounded in critical and post-humanist perspectives on education, and language education in particular, and notions of the ecological and the measured university, this qualitative study was conducted in 2018–19. Students created artistic multimodal works to portray their visions of the ecological university prompted by a language course syllabus and an arts-based methodology. They complemented their creations with concrete activism in their social milieu to contribute to making their university ecological. Combining discourse, content and post-qualitative analyses, findings show that the students envisioned three essential elements to enact the transformative role of their university: a) love for and commitment to others; b) a human rights education foundation; and c) a basis in local activism. Implications for pedagogy are considered, centred on the significance of arts-based pedagogies and methodologies to challenge predominant characterisations of the accountable university in the setting and foster student activism.

Affirmative Ethics in the COVID-19 Moment: Perplexities, Paradoxes, and Surprises

Posthumanism locates, progresses, and asserts knowledge in the openings for interconnection. In this article, we undertake a collective biography using an interconnected arts-based practice that affords us complex relations with each other and material ways of thinking and being together. With a shared interest in posthuman theory and memory work, the authors connected online from Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa to address the question: What can we learn about the perplexities, paradoxes, surprises, and frustrations associated with our academic work during COVID-19? Using an arts-based methodology and a cartographic analytical approach for our critical posthuman research, our assemblage charted the power relations operating in and immanent to the construction and circulation of academic knowledge during COVID-19.

Teaching temporal reflexivity through a vehicle: Experiential-existential time around the wood fire stove of a mobile shepherd's hut

In this essay, I propose the use of itinerant encounter spaces as educative agents for teaching time studies experientially. My work is informed by an arts-based methodology, conducted as part of a PhD, which used a mobile shepherd's hut as host for instances of temporal reflexivity. This specific wooden caravan, a venue for shared and introspective stillness, invites participants to embrace non-linearity within formal educational environments that are generally structured by calendars, clocks and bells. By offering unaudited room and time for reflective activities such as storytelling and subjective mapping, I encouraged my research participants, student teachers in Scotland, to nurture the temporalities of self-care that may or may not be part of their personal journeys into ‘meaningful teaching’ during an Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme. My role was to open up an extracurricular atmosphere which disrupted the temporal standardisations required by many curricular designs for modular fit in university degrees. Curating a vehicle for methodological acts of temporal dissensus offered me insights into teaching time beyond a focus on input and outcomes. The prevailing instrumental logic in formal education rarely acknowledges itinerancy as a dynamic sphere for the pedagogical encounter. My session plans were loosely structured by the provision of a ‘shelter in public’ as a gesture of hospitality and not by a fixed schedule of activities or content to be delivered. This gave research participants the chance to narrate their own intrinsically perceived student teacher trajectories. The improvisation through public pedagogy and the ‘vagueness’ of indirect pedagogy cultivated playful detours. I suggest taking steps aside from dominant curricular formats and explore further how time studies can be taught through the coexistence of movement and stillness, as temporal reflexivity on wheels.

Stoicism, philosophy as a way of life and Negative Capability: Developing a capacity for working in radical uncertainty

Philosophy and leadership are not generally held in close association. By contrast, this paper is a call to action for the academy and organisational practitioners to reflect on the potential contribution to leadership of a practice of philosophy as a way of life. In this, we explore what this might entail with an illustrative focus on Stoicism because of its explicit attention to working in radical uncertainty. Recent literature has also identified the potential merits of Negative Capability in this regard, and we discuss how this capacity is closely related to many Stoic practices. We challenge dominant leadership discourses at a fundamental level and argue that there is a need to consider approaches to leadership education and development that go beyond merely gaining new knowledge, skills and techniques. The requirement, which is also an opportunity, is nothing less than a transformation at the level of being and of one’s vision of the world. The theoretical contribution of the paper is supported by empirical evidence from a study with ten organizational executives who were introduced to Negative Capability through an arts-based methodology. This study provides insight into the potential contribution of ideas from Stoic philosophy to the development of a capacity to work with uncertainty. However, a core argument of this paper is that working in radical uncertainty requires more than a ‘quick fix’ and practitioners must learn to develop their own practice of philosophy as a way of life.

Researcher as curator: Making room for the politics of emotion in leisure research

ABSTRACT In this research note, we ask: What would it look like if researchers thought of themselves as ‘curators’ when analysing and presenting their work? What might that role shift produce? Thinking of oneself as ‘curator’ rather than ‘researcher’ fundamentally shifts the way one thinks and does data analysis and representation. We share our experiences thinking through this lens and propose that thinking of ‘researcher as curator’ is one way to guide researchers through data analysis and representation in a manner that embraces the ‘emotional turn’ (Lemmings & Brooks, 2014). This ‘role-framing’ can provide some direction for those using Creative Analytic Practice (CAP; Parry & Johnson, 2007) or arts-based methodologies in their work. But, importantly, we posit that ‘researcher as curator’ can also be useful in qualitative work that does not necessarily employ either CAP or arts-based research, but seeks to engage the emotions of leisure research.

Transnational caring in times of COVID-19: The experiences of visible minority immigrant carer-employees

Globalization and immigration policies between Canada and immigrant-sending nations have heightened transnational caregiving. The research objective is to explore the experiences of visible minority immigrant transnational carer-employees (VMI TCEs) before and during the pandemic. In this study, participants reside in the mid-sized city of London, Ontario and engage in paid employment or volunteering while providing unpaid care to family members and/or friends abroad. Interviews and arts-based methodology were used to collect data from 29 VMI TCEs from 10 countries. Intersectionality theory informed thematic analysis and three themes emerged: (1) The nuances of providing transnational care, (2) The impact of geographic dislocation on care and wellbeing, and (3) Caregiving during COVID-19. Findings highlight the fluidity of transnational caregiving, in that participants both shape and are impacted by time-space dimensions. Study results may be used to inform culturally sensitive adaptions to the existing standard for organizations to be more inclusive of and accommodating to carer-employees. Findings can also inform the implementation or improvement of programs and services offered by the government, immigration resettlement agencies, employers and other stakeholders working with people who may share similar experiences to VMI TCEs. The creation of accessible and appropriate resources for this group of people will better support them in resettling outside of major urban cities in Ontario and other provinces across Canada.

Using Arts-Based Methodologies to Understand Adolescent and Youth Manifestations, Representations, and Potential Causes of Depression and Anxiety in Low-Income Urban Settings in Peru.

Arts-based methodologies can be beneficial to identify different representations of stigmatized topics such as mental health conditions. This study used a theater-based workshop to describe manifestations, representations, and potential causes of depression and anxiety as perceived by adolescents and young adults. The theater company Teatro La Plaza conducted three online sessions with a group of adolescents and another with a group of young adults from Lima, Peru. The artistic outputs, which included images, similes, monologues, and narrations, were used to describe the experiences of depression and anxiety symptoms following a content analysis using posteriori categories. Seventeen participants joined the sessions. The artistic outputs showed: physical, behavioral, cognitive, and emotional manifestations of depression and anxiety; a perception that both disorders have a cyclical nature; and an awareness that it is often difficult to notice symptom triggers. The mandatory social isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic was highlighted as an important symptom trigger, mostly linked to anxiety. The findings are consistent with the literature, especially with regard to the manifestations, representations, and potential causes that trigger depression and anxiety. Using arts-based methods allowed adolescents and young adults to expand the articulation of their representations of mental disorders.

Black Women Acting Against the Extremes of Visibility in the Academy

Black women faculty building their academic lives can be treated as or made to feel invisible (i.e., ignored) or hypervisible (i.e., overly scrutinized). Subsequent harms can follow, such as stress, insecurity, power/voicelessness, and job attrition. Through the fusing of sister circles focus groups with Theatre of the Oppressed Forum Theatre, we explored how five Black women faculty confronted issues related to visibility utilizing this culturally informed critical arts-based methodology. Through introspection and performance, they brought in elder wisdom, and through rehearsal and performance, they left with shared knowledge on how to mediate at the extremes of visibility to improve their academic lives. We discuss the findings and their implications for academic healing via culturally responsive arts-based interventions and methodologies.

The theatre of development: dramaturgy, actors and performances in the ‘workshop space’

This article explores performance within development spaces. Dramaturgy, a concept deriving from theatre studies, can be understood as an analytical lens that examines the various roles and performances of different ‘actors’ in particular social spaces. While there is literature exploring the use of the arts, such as applied theatre and dance, in development interventions, this article looks at the roles, performances and actors in development spaces. By analysing the subtle yet explicit composites of workshop spaces in development, in particular those engaging with arts-based methodologies, we can see how multiple and simultaneous performances converge. These performances are insightful in their own right and represent and enact a theatre of their own. Using a workshop in Sierra Leone as a case study, we explore the various dynamics at play within the ‘workshop space’ of development. We illustrate how these frequently overlooked and subtle elements in development are critical to understanding the perceptions and embodiment of what constitutes and enacts the theatre of development.

Emerging Professional Identity Formation: Exploring Coloniality in the Rehabilitation Professions

This paper explores professional identity formation in undergraduate education. The paper positions professional identity formation within coloniality. A qualitative case study was conducted using critical theory as a guiding conceptual framework. Data collection included document reviews, observations and arts-based research methodologies. We present a case study of a speech-language pathology student, Aqueelah, transitioning from a traditional clinical placement to a learning site which encourages the development of an emerging practice. The paper focuses on how Aqueelah forms her emerging professional identity through her learning. We foreground the concept of “centring the self” as essential in developing patient-centred care and challenge coloniality of being embedded in clinical education. The paper argues that liminal spaces are necessary to allow students to explore different ways of thinking and doing to support new ways of being. The paper advocates for arts-based methodologies and critical reflection as essential pedagogic tools in shaping professional identity.

Becoming Wolfand other stories: using Indigenist arts-based methodologies to explore urban Indigenous coming of age

Arts-based methodologies are increasingly being used in community-based research to explore and communicate issues of importance to Indigenous communities. Situating research in an Indigenist framework ensures that relational accountability—foundational to Indigenous ways of knowing and doing—is threaded throughout all stages of a research project. In this article, the authors describe how using Indigenist arts-based methodologies helped to develop critical knowledge sharing tools about urban Indigenous coming of age for youth living in foster care. The article describes how wisdoms gathered at a knowledge holder’s dinner and two youth workshops were used to develop the story Becoming Wolf, which was later adapted to a watercolour infographic and a graphic novel. We hope that this article shows our support for socially transformative and allied research and contributes to discourses about knowledge co-creation and mobilization.

A Spotlight on Research-Based Theatre

“Tell me about your research.” How does one begin to convey the importance of our life’s work—our research? Enter stage right, Research-based Theatre, an innovative, arts-based methodology that takes research data and brings it to life, by showing, rather than telling. In this article, we tell the story of how Research-based Theatre first came to be, and why it is especially well suited to the contemporary challenge of showcasing diverse and marginalized voices. We also share a short scene that illustrates the methodology in practice. We conclude by offering ways Research-based Theatre can be a meaningful approach for pedagogy and community-engaged initiatives.

Design and Development of Mediated Participation for Environmental Governance Transformation: Experiences with Community Art and Visual Problem Appraisal

For environmental governance to be more effective and transformative, it needs to enhance the presence of experimental and innovative approaches for participation. This enhancement requires a transformation of environmental governance, as too often the (public) participation process is set up as a formal obligation in the development of a proposed intervention. This article, in search of alternatives, and in support of this transformation elaborates on spaces where participatory and deliberative governance processes have been deployed. Experiences with two mediated participation methodologies – community art and visual problem appraisal – allow a demonstration of their potential, relevance and attractiveness. Additionally, the article analyzes the challenges that result from the nature of these arts-based methodologies, from the confrontational aspects of voices overlooked in conventional approaches, and from the need to rethink professionals’ competences. Considering current environmental urgencies, mediated participation and social imaginaries still demonstrate capacities to open new avenues for action and reflection.

The embodiment of childhood abuse and anorexia nervosa: A body mapping study

Childhood trauma has long been implicated in the development of anorexia nervosa and is known to impact more women than men. Still, less is known about the meaning women attribute to food and bodily practices and how they contribute to feminine subjectivity. In this article, we examine the subjective experiences of women with histories of childhood abuse and anorexia and women who did not develop an eating disorder. Through a visual narrative analysis of eight body maps and narratives, we identified five themes: “time and the body have a way of showing what matters,” “femininity and family,” “sexual subjectivities and food meanings,” “voices, dissociation, and sexual subjectivities,” and “religion and healthism.” In women with anorexia, specific eating and bodily practices reconstructed the traumatic events to align with the available cultural discourses related to health, religion, and family and had implications for their feminine and sexual subjectivities and self-worth. This research showcased how arts-based methodologies add value and advance knowledge about the role of culturally available representations in the development of anorexia and has implications for therapy and prevention of anorexia.

Listen to her: Re-finding culturally responsive poetic inquiry as home knowing for women of African descent

In response to critical turns in knowledge production, scholars of African descent have developed culturally responsive arts-based methodologies. Congruent with culturally responsive research is incorporating home knowing practices such as the poetics of many African and Africentric storytelling practices. This article presents my reflections as a Canadian researcher of African descent on “re-finding” culturally responsive poetic inquiry to interpret, represent, and re-tell the HIV service work experiences of African immigrant women living with HIV. I argue that researchers should strive to decolonize their research with, for and by peoples of African descent by incorporating knowledge precepts and practices grounded in participants’ home knowing. Using arts-based methodologies such as poetic inquiry creates an opportunity to critically reflect on knowledge production in research: who produces knowledge, what ways of knowing are valued, and what messages are conveyed through knowledge production and dissemination.