Finding my voice and a vision: Poetic representations as valid/valuable knowledge

Abstract

This paper addresses the self-discovery of the author, a graduate student, in recognizing her overlapping identities of researcher, artist, and activist and the role of poetry through all of them. The journey through the identities, inspired by Catherine Etmanski's (2006) artistic journey, brings an awareness of the ability of poetry to encourage praxis. The author uses poetry to share others’ voices, then she begins to share her own voice through her poetry, and finally, she begins to create spaces for others to compose their own poetry or alternative ways of making meaning. Etmanski maintains that education is the key characteristic among all means of social change, and therefore, the author concludes that her poetry, personal or research-based, as a means to educate, should be used to encourage social change.

Keywords:

• Education
• poetic
• self-discovery
• voice

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Darlene Clover, Catherine Etmanski, Tim Hopper and Budd Hall for their support in my poetic activist journey. Also, I would like to thank the editors of this manuscript for their advice.

Notes

1. Quotation from bell hooks (2003) Teaching community: A pedagogy of hope.

2. Darlene refers to Darlene Clover, instructor of an Adult Education and Art course offered at the University of Victoria, researcher, social activist, and artist.