‘Bodyography as Activism in Qualitative Inquiry: The Bodies Collective at ECQI19’, The Bodies Collective Collective, (2021) in: International Review of Qualitative Research, 14(1), pp. 104–121. doi: 10.1177/1940844720970140.
Key words: Bodies Collective, bodyography, autonomous pedagogy, activism, flattened hierarchies.
Abstract: If activism is an act of challenging marginalization and hierarchy, The Bodies Collective works to challenge the hierarchy between “mind” and “body” inherent in much academic discourse, and can be witnessed in the conference space. We do this, not through forming another hierarchical structure, but from within—through invitation and inviting those who may be labeled as “participant” to become a leader within each workshop presented. This is the act of activism that The 2019 European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (ECQI19) invited. In this article, we discuss how The Bodies Collective’s contributions to ECQI can be seen as activism. We describe our contribution, a workshop, and provide examples of feedback from those involved. Finally, we show some of the challenges we have encountered and conclude with looking toward the future.
‘What is Feminism in Troubling Times? To Stay Standing Together’, Alys Mendus, Davina Kirkpatrick, and Fiona Murray, (2020) in: International Review of Qualitative Research. doi: 10.1177/1940844720978743.
This performative piece, an enactment of lived feminism, acknowledges the privileges and explores the similarities and differences between three cis-gendered white women in different parts of the United Kingdom and how these aid and hinder collaboratively writing together. The piece was shared at the Autoethnography Special Interest Group at International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (ICQI) in 2018. We had never written together before but had presented on the same Shame? panel at ICQI in 2017 convened by Alys Mendus that also included papers by Stacy Holman Jones and Anne Harris and a memorial to Sue Porter. There were similarities in terms of themes explored including sexuality and taboo. This was our starting point but it was not easy. We realized that difficulty within collaborative inquiry is rarely written about and published but is often the topic of conversation between academics. Perhaps feminism is our ability to stand together curious and alive to our non-shared experience with a commitment to not creating a shared perspective? To stay standing together, we could be stronger in these troubling times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guBNB5FqBTQ
The gap between; an open-ness in Shearsmith, M., ed. (2012) Between Ineffable intervals UK:Wild Conversations Press
The road to Meikle Seggie, a collective derive in Modeen, M., ed (2013) Invisible Scotland Revealing a Process of Interdisciplinary Discovery, UK: Moray School of Art Press.
