Participatory Arts-Based Research Approaches with People with Disabilities: Cultural Contexts and Intersectional Perspectives

Dear Colleagues,

Participatory approaches and arts-based research methods have been increasingly used in research with individiuals with disabilities (Liddiard et al., 2019). However, a critical gap remains at their intersection, especially when considering diverse cultural contexts and intersectional identities (Coemans & Hannes, 2017; Rice et al., 2019). Currently, reseachers often silo these approaches, treating participatory frameworks, artistic inquiry, cultural responsiveness, and intersectionality as separate methodological considerations rather than integrated aspects of research design (Leavy, 2017; Nguyen, 2019). This separation has inadvertently prevented the understanding of how the combinations of these approaches could improve research with individuals with disabilities (Liddiard et al., 2019). Additionally, existing methodological frameworks largely reflect Western epistemologies and contexts, with limited guidance on how these approaches can be meaningfully adapted across diverse cultural settings.

This Special Issue aims to address these gaps by bringing together research that explicitly integrates participatory principles with arts-based research methods while considering cultural differences and intersenting identities. This Issue’s significance lies in its potential to advance research methods that respect different ways of knowing (Denzin & Lincoln, 2018), creates accessible pathways for expression beyond verbal and written communication (Danker et al., 2017), addresses power imbalances across cultural contexts (Hossain et al., 2023), and captures the complex experiences at the intersection of disability, culture, and other aspects of identity (Artiles, 2013; Erevelles & Minear, 2010). By fostering this methodological integration, this Special Issue will contribute to more equitable, creative, and culturally responsive research that can meaningfully engage people with disabilities as knowledge creators rather than research subjects (Nind, 2014).

As such, this Special Issue will explore participatory arts-based research approaches that engage individuals with disabilities as active research collaborators across diverse cultural contexts and intersectional identities. Specifically, this Issue will focus on:

1. Participatory arts-based approaches where individuals with disabilities are co-researchers and co-creators throughout the research process.
2. Cultural adaptations and contextual sensitivity in designing and implementing participatory arts-based approaches across diverse communities.
3. Intersectional applications examining how participatory arts-based approaches can reveal and address the complex interplay between disability and other aspects of identity (e.g., gender, ethnicity, and sexuality).
4. Participatory arts-based approaches such as photovoice and bodymapping that enable the voices of cultutrally diverse individuals with disabilities.
5. Methodological adaptations, ethical considerations, and power dynamics when conducting cross-cultural participatory arts-based research with individuals with disabilities.

Contributions must be either articles, conceptual papers, or reviews and must address the topic of the Special Issue.

References

1. Artiles, A. J. (2013). Untangling the racialization of disabilities: An intersectionality critique across disability models. Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, 10, 329-347. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X13000271.
2. Coemans, S., & Hannes, K. (2017). Researchers under the spell of the arts: Two decades of using arts-based methods in community-based inquiry with vulnerable populations. Educational Research Review, 22, 34-49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2017.08.003.
3. Danker, J., Strnadová, I., & Cumming, T. M. (2017). Engaging students with autism spectrum disorders in research through participant-driven photo-elicitation research technique. Australasian Journal of Special Education, 41, 35-50. https://doi.org/10.1017/jse.2016.7.
4. Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2018). The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (5th ed.). Sage.
5. Erevelles, N., & Minear, A. (2010). Unspeakable offenses: Untangling race and disability in discourses of intersectionality. Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, 4, 127-145. https://doi.org/10.3828/jlcds.2010.11.
6. Hossain, S., Strnadová, I., Danker, J., Noor Ahsan, N., & Rahman Nebir, R. (2023). Taking part while being apart: Conducting participatory research with children during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 46, 374-389. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743727X.2023.2208052.
7. Leavy, P. (2017). Research design: Quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, arts-based, and community-based participatory research approaches. Guilford Press.
8. Liddiard, K., Runswick-Cole, K., Goodley, D., Whitney, S., Vogelmann, E., & Watts, L. (2019). "I was excited by the idea of a project that focuses on those unasked questions": Co-producing disability research with disabled young people. Children & Society, 33, 154-167. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12308.
9. Nind, M. (2020). Inclusive research: Research methods.  Bloomsbury Publishing
10. Rice, C., Harrison, E., & Friedman, M. (2019). Doing justice to intersectionality in research. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, 19, 409-420. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532708619829779.

Dr. Joanne Danker
Dr. Adrian W. Chew
Guest Editors

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• participatory research
• arts-based research methods
• inclusive research
• cultural responsiveness
• intersectionality
• Photovoice
• bodymapping
• knowledge co-production
• disability