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Reflections on being ‘outsider-insiders’ and ‘insider-outsiders’ - fluctuating positionalities in research with migrant and refugee women
No full textThis chapter focuses on the value of insider-research with marginalised groups, through the example of a community-based organisation working with migrant and refugee women in London. Refugees and migrants are often treated as ‘outsiders’ by society, and scholars have argued that gaining their trust in research is a sensitive process, particularly where they have experienced trauma and/or come from war-torn countries. The chapter analyses links between reflexivity and participatory action research, exploring notions of power. We present a sample of the data from the three-year evaluation of the women’s project, consider our positionality as researchers on the project, and discuss the methodological implications of the case study for wider research and practice with refugees and migrants.
Focusing on the organisation’s women’s project, we argue that without the involvement of both ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ in the research, key findings that draw on the women’s personal experiences would not have emerged. We argue that involving both ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ researchers allowed us to collate authentic narratives whilst ensuring external rigour – drawing on how the research was carried out by an external academic working alongside practitioner-researchers within the organisation. The chapter adds further nuance to previous discussions of insider-research and particularly the rejection of the insider/outsider binary, through considering the levels of insider and outsider status inhabited by researchers and the fluidity between these positionalities. We reflect on the power dynamics and implications of being fluid and partial insiders and outsiders in both research and practice
Rethinking aesthetics, ontologizing reflexivity
Get PDFBuilding on the debates on reflexivity in the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we shift the focus from the social construction of knowledge to the heterogeneous composition of research events. As such, we propose an ontologized version of reflexivity that is grounded in the discordance and tensions that mark the ‘feelings’ for, ‘experiences’ among, the diverse human and nonhuman elements that compose such events. This Whiteheadian revisioning of reflexivity is also seen as fundamentally an aesthetic process, where aesthetics is similarly ontologized. We illustrate this ontologizing of reflexivity with a discussion of how the authors’ cycling activities enter into the event of their collaborative research practice
In Two Minds and Two bodies? What happens when we think in role?
Get PDFThis paper is written from a presentation at the Dorothy Heathcote Now! conference held at Goldsmiths November 2024. It examines a particular moment recorded within an interview which was part of my doctoral thesis: In Two Minds: What Happens when we Think in Role?
The narrative begins with the interviewee’s statement:
'Drama helped me escape my reality and face it at the same time' (Kiara, 2019).
This paradox forms the thematic core of the study, which uses Kiara’s recollection of a drama exercise where she saw herself depicted by another student. The paper uses this moment to explore how being in role can catalyse self-recognition and healing transformation.
Theoretical contributions are drawn from theorists based both within and outside of the world of educational drama: Stanislavsky (1863-1938), Vygotsky (1896-1934), Bolton, Heathcote (1926-2011), Hume (1711-1776), O’Neill, and Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961).
The paper advocates for drama in schools taught by subject specialists and greater consideration of the in-role process and embodied learning in drama lessons. Teachers of drama are invited to reconsider the work of theatre practitioners not just as works to be studied at curriculum level but to reframe their pedagogical contribution as educational dramatists. Practitioners are invited to consider the contribution made by specific theorists whose studies originate from outside educational drama but whose ideas impinge powerfully on the drama classroom. The study also explores the drama classroom as an exciting dual world of fiction and authenticity offering opportunities for transformational, healing self-discovery and some theoretical perspectives for planning, analysing and evaluating what happens in a drama classroom
Promised Land
No full textA forthcoming film season at the Barbican in London presenting images of land as a political, ecological and aesthetic form invites us to look carefully and ask questions. Whose land is it? Whose perspective? By Becca Voelcker
Review of David Lambert, Soldiers of Uncertain Rank: The West India Regiments in British Imperial Culture
No full textChoreographies of Organisation: Raven Chacon interviewed by Irene Revell
No full textFocusing on the siren, emergency listening, questions of notation and the score, the interview is a later elaboration on the ‘in conversation’ between Raven Chacon and Irene Revell after Chacon’s performance, the final part of the Preemptive Listening symposium at Tate Modern (27 April 2024).
The article is part of the special issue of Disclaimer journal, 'Preemptive Listening The Sonic Politics of Emergency' edited by Francesca Laura Cavallo, Beatriz García-Velasco, Irene Revell, Aura Satz, Joel Stern, Valentine Umansky
‘Rescuing’ data justice? Mobilising the collective in responses to datafication
Get PDFKey activities that relate to data justice have emerged from different stakeholders that seek to confront and address different implications of advancements in datafication. These activities indicate the extent to which such concerns have become mainstreamed on the one hand and the contentious and political nature of translating justice concerns into practice on the other. This article engages with this ‘politics of data justice’ by outlining different approaches to data justice and makes the case that dominant responses to datafication and its injustices privilege processes of individualisation and marketisation. In light of this, the article draws inspiration from Gerald Cohen’s notion of ‘rescuing justice’ as a way to assert an alternative vision for data justice that centres collectivity. It does so by considering two key traditions in scholarship on justice: the Marxist/socialist tradition that understands justice as critique; and the feminist tradition that understands justice as empowerment. Central to both of these traditions is an emphasis on engaging with justice within existing social relations and the structural conditions against which injustices are experienced. On this basis, the article argues that an emphasis on collectivity can be an avenue through which data justice can (re)claim more radical understandings of justice that take account of how technology is embedded in wider power dynamics and ways in which they might be challenged
Engaged and confused: Aesthetic appreciation of live and screened contemporary dance.
Get PDFAesthetic cognitivism assumes a positive relationship between aesthetic experience and knowledge acquisition. Here, we study this relationship in the context of contemporary dance. 207 audience members watched either a live performance or a screening of a contemporary dance duet and reported on their aesthetic experience after the show. Qualitatively, a thematic analysis of open questions revealed that the audience recalled the performance in both descriptive and imaginative ways, highlighting ambiguity and meaning making as recurrent ways of engagement. Quantitatively, a principal component analysis revealed two distinct dimensions of aesthetic experience: engagement and confusion. Simple group comparisons suggested that engagement was higher in the live than in the screened performances and among spectators not equipped with additional measurement devices (mobile electroencephalograms). However, these effects disappeared when prior dance experience was taken into account. In contrast, perceived confusion did not depend on live or screened performance context, wearing measurement devices, or prior dance experience. Our findings suggest that dance experience is an important predictor of how people engage with dance across both live and recorded performance contexts. Moreover, we show that ambiguity and confusion are not necessarily aversive components of aesthetic experience but can be experienced as artistically intended features of an artwork, and in the process become a form of engagement, more so if viewers have sufficient experience with the art form. Our findings therefore challenge a conceptualization of aesthetic experience as a simple by-product of insight and suggest a distinction between pleasure from experiencing and pleasure from understanding
Flesh Postcards
No full textFour ‘Flesh Postcards’ and Artwork for a project/publication
Clubbing & Commune-ing
Funded by Arts Council England and Essex Heritage Trust
Publication and exhibition due June 202
Decolonizing the “Well-being ” Concept & Social Work Practice through the Lens of Buddhism
No full textDecolonization of social work education is essential for the promotion of equality and diversity in today’s contemporary world. Social work is being questioned to be oppressive as teaching, learning and practice are rooted in hegemonic, colonial discourses, with a focus on Eurocentric practice. The Western ideology of well-being was perpetuated through social work education and practice in mental health. This chapter aims to discuss how Buddhism can theoretically inform and lead social work practice in the contemporary era. The chapter first demonstrates how Buddhism can be developed into be theory-driven practice. As a theory-driven practice, Buddhism’s teachings, such as the three poisons of “greed, ignorance and hatred”, peace and happiness, and “letting go”, are introduced and conceptualized to form an alternative meaning and practice of well-being . The chapter illustrates how Buddhism can be translated into compassionate approaches, counselling skills, and evidence-based practice in casework and group work. Several Mindfulness-based Interventions (MBIs) are summarized to review their effectiveness. The chapter concludes by reviewing the benefits and strengths of Buddhism-based practice. Further recommendations are made on decolonial education in social work