Risky methodologies and humble knowledges: a reflection on arts-based research for disabled and chronically Ill youth

ABSTRACT

The socio-materiality of risk in sport, exercise, and health has greatly advanced an understanding of the entanglement of embodiment and the social realm, opening up discussions about bodies and technologies as well as bodies and work. The socio-materiality of risk has also facilitated a discussion on both the embodied and material components of risk. In this paper, however, we consider ‘risky methodologies’ to advance discussions on the socio-materiality of risk. We unpack arts-based methodologies as one methodological platform in which bodies and the social realm are entangled and mutually constitutive of one another. Specifically, we show how arts-based research is grounded in the material and the social because it facilitates the development of ambiguous, fluid, ethereal, affective, impressionist, uncertain, and aesthetic knowledges, while, at the same time, advancing scholarship on social justice and injustice. We also propose that ABR is a humble knowledge that stands in contrast to the authority of certain academic disciplines. We weave stories, art, and narratives from empirical data sets to illuminate our discussion and promote critical methodological dialogue and reflection.

KEYWORDS:

• Arts-based research
• risk
• embodiment
• methodology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data are not available because permission was not originally sought from the REB and the studies are now closed with the REB.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Notes on contributors

Fiona J. Moola

Fiona J. Moola is an Associate Professor at the Toronto Metropolitan University in the School of Early Childhood Studies. She is a Research Associate at Grandview Kids and an Associate Professor, Status, at the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Institute. She is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying).

Stephanie Posa

Stephanie Posa is a Research Coordinator at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada and a Research Assistant at the Toronto Metropolitan University. She is also a visual artist.