Course description
Research-creation is an approach to research that engages artistic expression, scholarly investigation, curiosity, and experimentation. In practice, this means that research topics are selected and explored through a creation process, such as photography, the production of a film or video, performance or installation, sound-work, zine, recipe, or multimedia arts/texts.
Research-creation is important in a variety of fields and, in recent years, universities have used it to boost their public profiles and promote community-engaged collaborations. That said, the increasing institutionalization of research-creation must be approached critically, and situated within a broader context of power relations within academia, education, and research. In this course, research-creation will thus be framed as an intervention and invitation for scholars to push disciplinary boundaries, challenge taken-for-granted assumptions about what academic work entails, and consider ways to make their work more sustainable, accessible, and responsive to issues concerning social justice.
This summer, the course will have a special focus on relationships, mental health, conflict in collaborations, and the messiness of co-creative work. We will draw on specific examples from queer, anti-colonial, migrant justice, and Palestinian liberation movements. The course will incorporate reading-based discussions, hands-on creative workshops, and examples of research-creation in practice, in an effort to engage broader discussions concerning methodology, ethics, responsibility, and institutional solidarities/activism within and beyond the university. To this end, this course will include presentations by scholars and practitioners from inside and outside of academia. To this end, this course will include presentations by scholars and practitioners from inside and outside of academia.
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