Drama with street youth: visual methodology dialogues across distance

Abstract

As past school educators and doctoral students, the authors aim to further collaborative analytical discussions across distances through the use of technology and supported readings. They describe their journey of collaboratively analyzing two different examples of data, two film clippings from an applied theatre rehearsal with street youth, while using a visual methodology to enhance their discussions. In conclusion, they explain that their analysis of this pedagogical and methodological experiment supported them as they returned to their own respective research and writing equipped with new methodological and analytical tools that facilitated seeing their own visual data differently. Through this dialogical experiment they are advocating for a fuller recognition of a collective learning methodology in education, especially in what can be the very lonely and isolating stage of analysis in doctoral research and in the beginning stages of entering the classroom.

Keywords:

• Analysis
• collaboration
• drama
• distance
• PhD student
• visual methodology

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge, with great respect and gratitude, the youth and co-researchers within the Surviving in the Cracks production, the youth leaders and university researchers: Davina Boone, Jennifer Dixon, Trevor Coburn, Dr. James Frankish, Justine Goulet, Dr. Jeffrey Masuda, Laura Nimmon, and Sean Nixon. Also, Greg Masuda for his gracious sharing of his documentary footage.

Notes

1. ‘“Street-involved youth” is a term used to refer young people, generally aged 16–24, who spend a significant amount of time on the streets, as squatters, at youth shelters and centers, or as couch-surfers’ (Rogers et al. 2014, 48).