Encountering Methodology through Art: A Deleuzoguattarian territory of action research
Blog Post by Ruth Smith
How can philosophy be used productively alongside action research? Many scholars have discussed the relationship between theory and practice. As an artist and community educator, I found that artmaking offered a way to bring together theory and practice in my work with the Somali Women and Children’s Alliance afterschool program and summer camp.
In this paper, I build upon the existing scholarship exploring the usefulness of Deleuze and his collaborative work with Felix Guattari within action research. The purpose, if there is one, of Deleuzoguattarian philosophy is the creation of new ideas and ways of doing things. I explore the ways that action research functions as a territory – a grouping of objects, bodies, expressions, and qualities specific to a particular space and time – to accompany our work rather than define it. Then, I present the ways that, through art-making, my fixed ideas about the Somali community and ways of practicing community arts education were challenged so that my collaborators and I could creatively design and carry out a summer arts camp as part of my thesis research. Art making launched this process of deterritorialization – the forming of new ways of thinking and doing that changes the territories from which they originate.
Going forward, how can Deleuzoguattarian philosophy (as well as other philosophies) disrupt and transform your practice as an action researcher? How might you integrate creative and experimental methods into your practice?
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- Participatory action research with Aboriginal Elders: Ngulluk Koolunga Ngulluk Koort project - October 12, 2020
- Bringing the relational self to ART: Interview with Dr. Yvonne Skipper - October 1, 2020