Outsider Pedagogies: Research-Creation for Social Change

In this session the discussants will begin by defining research-creation as a valuable methodology gaining momentum in qualitative research. Combining artistic and academic praxis, researchers may use creative expression to investigate, co-create, develop and disseminate knowledge, ultimately challenging the limits of knowledge making itself. The discussion will explore the history of this approach, expanding upon its use-cases, strengths, and challenges. In particular, the panel will weave case studies with personal experience to discuss the potential power of research-creation as a vehicle for social change, building bridges between academia and the rest of the world. We shall examine different modalities including counter-mapping as liberatory data activism, participatory theatre for policy change, outsider improv spaces as equitable praxis, and photography for climate activism. Embodied and aesthetic practices will be explored as examples which seek to transform life itself through acts of being. The panel will explore how creativity may serve as a conduit for public pedagogy, unleashing the power of seeing, feeling, and being as essential modes for living, learning, and continuance.