narrative + experimental research
Integrated learning:
Prior to starting the MAIS program, I was familiar with narrative therapy in conjunction with art therapy. This was an area of interest for me, and as I learned more through the Indigenous Studies and Research courses, I began to realize the significance of story and personal narratives in the process of social change. It is through the sharing of story that we learn in our daily lives, and it is through story that we integrate life lessons and knowledge passed down from previous generations. Social justice issues can be communicated and understood much more readily through narrative. Research can become more meaningful with personal narratives as part of the generated data. By using narrative in research, we can discover first hand accounts of historical and contemporary inequalities and areas of hierarchy in our society.
I had the opportunity to learn about the value of experimental methodologies of research and then create my own methodologies focused on my hypothetical research project. Imagining a hypothetical research project is the ultimate freedom to envision what is possible!
the project
I had been thinking about the melting glaciers and about the fate of our rivers and lakes. Living near a glacier brings its imminent demise into sharp focus. In my naiveite I thought ‘wouldn’t it be great to travel to all the glaciers in BC, create a project incorporating arts-based responses while visiting each glacier and document these responses as a qualitative, subjective study?’.
Googling ‘BC glaciers’ quickly led me to realize this would be a lifelong project as there are 17,000 glaciers in BC. I’m not sure how long that would take to visit each one, but I know I don’t have the time available this year for that scale. Perhaps this idea would be better as a team project.
I was thinking maybe an intergenerational project that included grandparents visiting the sites with their grandchildren and responding through art making. This led me to think, perhaps I should start this idea by studying the knowledge that exists already about glaciers from our grandparents, specifically Indigenous elders and the oral traditions about glaciers and their meaning. Prior to starting this research, I assume, glaciers would be very significant in the lives of the Indigenous nations that lived near to them, maybe not, I don’t know yet, but I’m going to try to find out. J.Hakola Excerpt from Brainstorming Exercise MAIS 602 December 2021
“Reflectelling”: Reflection and Storytelling in Research December 2021 MAIS 602
In relation to my initial research question of, Through an ethnohistorical lens, as shared by oral tradition and traditional ecological knowledge, how are glaciers perceived by Indigenous Peoples? the Griffin & May (2017) reading was very inspiring in understanding how narrative analysis can be a tool and research methodology for learning about people’s subjective experiences through stories, historical oral tradition, and first hand accounts of contemporary events. Arts-based research conducted outside would be in alignment with connecting and respecting the relationship with the land and glacier. This approach would allow the original voices to be heard instead of ‘translated’ through the words of the researcher. The design for the project will be in collaboration with each community participating, to ensure an intention of giving back and reciprocity by discovering how it can serve the community.
Proposed Experimental Research Methodologies
Artstanding. (Art + Understanding) This is a proposed method of making art to gain a deeper understanding of the subject or topic in relation to oneself.
Grandpainting. (Grandparents + Painting) This research method involves seeking knowledge through painting with grandparents.
Reflectelling, (Reflection + Storytelling) which is a proposed research method that involves a time of reflection followed by story telling.
Glaciarting (Glaciers + Art) is most direct in its approach and simplicity; artmaking in close proximity to glaciers to better understand our relationship with each other through exploring our relationship with the changing land.
Challenging existing paradigms: Studying experimental research methods in MAIS 602 and being encouraged to create our own methods broke through the colonial and hierarchical frame of what research had to be to be accepted in academics. Realizing that the world is open to as many ways of interpretation as there are beings experiencing it, created for me a sense of shared space both global and local, and a sense of hope and empowerment towards the potential for change. Learning about experimental research methods showed me that it is possible to bring creativity into pre-existing frameworks to bring about new ways of looking at social justice issues to bring about transformation.
See blog page for further excerpts from Interdisciplinary Research Methods
Narrative analysis and Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis
I turned next to the chapter reading on narrative analysis and interpretive phenomenological analysis (Griffin & May, 2017). This seemed like a combination of methods that could really be a tool and method for looking at the entire project as a whole and to analyse the collected data. These methods are typically used for analysing texts and visual materials, so I figured this could fit very well with looking to understand the stories and oral tradition as well as the contemporary art making. They both incorporate case studies and a person-centred approach which would allow for both refection and respectful inquiry. By looking at the stories as whole narratives and within a context, a respectful position is built into the research design. Both methodologies also look at how language and social action are a part of the framework of social power dynamics. Like other methods of interpretation, we are trying to discover meaning and gain a sense of understanding. By studying how people tell stories about specific events and topics, it also illuminates the social perspectives on the topic.
Griffin, A., & May, V. (2018). Chapter 29: Narrative analysis and interpretive phenomenological analysis. In C. Seale (Ed.), Researching society and culture. (4th ed.; pp. 511–531). SAGE.
Narrative analysis can study the narrator, the audience, and recognize a sequence of events or a plot. I wonder if this will allow for an opportunity to look at this project within the broader global context and earth’s storyline plot of climate warming and glacial freezing and melting. By listening to the stories within this context we may be able to hear the past, present, and thoughts for the future. This method offers the freedom to look at the content of what is being shared but also the context within which it is being shared. Understanding our world on a personal level and from a localized perspective is valued in this research and could potentially illuminate our human relationship with these ancient ice forms. Social relevance: It was this paper where I learned about narrative analysis and interpretive phenomenology.
Combining and thus expanding these understandings in an interdisciplinary relationship opened my mind to the possibility that research methods can become big enough and strong enough containers to hold all of the elements of the research project; that parts do not have to be left out because they didn’t fit into a limited framework. Instead, possibilities were infinite when frameworks were robust enough to stand up to meet the needs of the research. This ebb and flow between (1) subject, (2) researcher, (3) methodology, and (4) data creates a dynamic fluid pond of information that can be witnessed and analyzed from multiple vantage points. Metaphorically, I see this pond of information as having a shoreline from which to view many vantage points to find meaning and understanding and new perspectives. These shoreline vantage points can be expanded to include non-human perspectives such as above in the air from our winged ones, from underneath the surface by the fishes, through the wind by our trees and plants. This is a multidimensional way of examining phenomenon and experiences of living in relationship.Research can bring meaning to all aspects of our ecosystem and be experienced and understood throughout the space by all that are participating in that meaning. All the parts of our world are engaged in their own forms of research, it may be as straightforward as non-human life to seek what brings life and avoid what brings death in a world of survival, or may be as complex as to ask how do we get the Voyager probe 15 billion miles away in space to send us back information.
These questions and every question in between are ways that we research through curiosity and experimentation to find meaning, to discover new understanding and ultimately to find life. The ant eater engages in research, just as we do, perhaps even more so, (as I learned in the course Environment in the Anthropocene: Life Beyond the Human). For me these courses created an interdisciplinary understanding for which I could engage in the complicated topics relating to resource extraction and our environment.
