Participatory Action Research (PAR): Participatory Theatre and Walking Methods' Potential for Co-producing knowledge, 2016-2018, (Prof Tracey Reynolds with Dr Umut Erel, Open University, PI and Prof Maggie O'Neill, University of Durham, ESRC Grant Ref: ES/N012224/1
This methodological project addresses the UK social science community's need to gain a better understanding of how participatory action research approaches engage marginalised groups in research as co-producers of knowledge. It focuses in particular on participatory theatre and walking methods as examples of a participatory action research. The project creates a model for bringing together practitioners policymakers and marginalized groups – in this case, migrant families with limited English and those marginalized from social citizenship through the No Recourse to Public Funds - (i) to engage with each other through these creative methods in order to generate new data and insights (ii) to co-produce knowledge around the specific policy issue of No Recourse to Public Funds and (iii) to contribute to capacity building through the delivery of training in the PAR methods of participatory mapping, walking stories and forum, theatre, and the production of digital learning resources for social science researchers, within and outside of academia (iv) to promote and publicise the potential of PAR in the wider social science community as a model to be employed in generate new methodological insights across a wide range of social contexts. By doing so the project meets the aims of NCRM's methodological initiative and the interest shown by social science researchers to address the methodological problems associated with researching hard to reach communities. It also responds to the ESRC's thematic priorities 'Influencing Behaviour' and 'A Vibrant and Fair Society'.
This participatory arts based research will be undertaken in collaboration and consultation with a theatre practitioner, Counter Point Arts and the Runnymede Trust. There are three core strands to the project:
Strand 1: Generating Research Data - the focus will be on the opportunities of participatory methods for generating new methodological datasets and insights into migrant families' intergenerational relations. It will involve 6 forum theatre (and 2 playback) and 3 sessions of walking sessions with two groups: migrant parents and young people. A final day-long Learning Lab organized in collaboration with Counterpoint Arts, and digital resources produced for learning and teaching (see strand 3)
Strand 2: Coproduction Engagement with Policy-Practice - This strand focuses on potential and pitfalls value of the PAR's methods, participatory theatre and walking stories, for engaging policy-practice and marginalized participants, in the co-production of knowledge around the specific policy issue of NRPF, a policy restricting migrants' participation in society. Families affected by NRPF will participate in the walking stories and participatory theatre, particularly the technique of 'legislative theatre'. In collaboration with Runnymede Trust we will produce a multimedia digital resource on the value of these methods to policy-practice
Strand 3: Training in Walking Stories and Participatory Theatre - This resources and materials developed in strand 1 and 2 will be used to train social science researchers, benefitting the wider social science research community. Training and capacity building is integral to the project. The resources and outputs generated from strands 1 to 3 will leave a legacy beyond the duration of the project. In addition, to delivering training through the project strands above, the team will contribute training workshops/sessions through NCRM's programme of events and the Research Methods Festival.
Contact: Professor Tracey Reynolds t.a.reynolds@gre.ac.uk
Mobilities and Transnational Identities of Migrant Youths: Using Community Spaces and Creative Agendas in shaping policy and practice debates Research and Enterprise Investment Programme, University of Greenwich (2015-16)
This project aims to accelerate the societal and policy impact of the ESRC funded seminar series, 'Diasporic and Transnational Youth Identities in the U.K: exploring conceptual themes and future research agendas. This international and multi-disciplinary seminar series explored the experiences, personal identifications and meanings emerging out of transnational and Diasporic connections by migrant youths. The proposed project will draw on creative, participatory and performative method of community forum theatre to work with a group of young people from migrant backgrounds on translating and embedding key research results from the seminar series into practical and policy solutions at a localised level. The proposed project aims to achieve this through building the capacity of young people to co-produce knowledge on the issues of on multiculturalism, immigration and, social cohesion in their local communities, and to with engage policy makers, practitioners and wider community members on these key societal issues. Three project activities will achieve a coordinated programme of knowledge exchange activities designed to accelerate the societal and user impact of the previous ESEC seminar series:
- A practitioner reflexive Toolkit
- A policy directed 'Briefing Report'
- A service-user 'Youth Summit'
In line with the University and Faculty's strong employability agenda, two student work placements will fully participate as part of the project team. This will offer students vital research and work-based skills and competencies for future employability, in addition to providing them with knowledge and understanding of conducting social research in practice.
Contact: Professor Tracey Reynolds t.a.reynolds@gre.ac.uk
Student Writing and the 'Inter-Cultural University' (Peter Jones and Bob Tsukada Bright)
This is a pilot study for a proposed 'action research' project (where 'action research' refers to research undertaken by practitioners, focusing on their own practice, partly or wholly for the purpose of enhancing understanding and improving future practice). Our main interest is in the academic essay, as a "culturally specific form of communication" (Womack, 1993: 43 [emphasis added]), and the challenges it presents for some student writers in a culturally diverse university. We draw a tentative parallel between (on the one hand) the academy's writing expectations and (on the other) English Language Teaching's model of the "putative native speaker who is usually imagined to be middle-class, speaking Standard English, and from the (relatively) affluent (Global) North" (Leung, 2013: 305). We are potentially interested in the experiences of student writers who may differ from this 'model' in several possible ways – including international non-native speakers, UK-based working class native speakers, and UK-based students from non-native speaking family backgrounds.
The project aims are:
- To more fully understand the academic writing challenges faced by some students whose previous 'educational cultures' and writing experiences may be quite different from those of HE in the UK, including those for whom English is an additional language.
- To develop additional forms of intervention, in response to these challenges, which can be used to assist current and future students with their writing.
- To share and discuss these findings and outcomes with colleagues in our departments/faculty whose students may face similar academic writing challenges.
We are particularly interested in meeting students whose written work is penalised for plagiarism, where this is attributable to inappropriate writing and referencing practices (rather than to intentional 'cheating'), as well as others referred to us by programme leaders etc as being 'at risk' of failure to meet the academy's writing expectations.