The 8th Biennial Qualitative Research Conference at Bournemouth University (BU), (6-8 September, 2010), will feature a number of performance-based presentations as a means of expressing research outcomes and results.
Performative Social Science (PSS) uses tools from the arts and humanities in researching and/or presenting social science projects. PSS uses tools such as poetry, prose, dance, graphic arts, theatre, film, music, photography, animation, illustration, flash mob, audio and video recording.
“A not so quiet revolution is currently taking place in the application of qualitative research in the social sciences,” says Dr Kip Jones from BU’s Centre for Qualitative Research. “PSS has become a catchphrase for the work of qualitative researchers wishing to move beyond typical PowerPoint conference presentations and truly engage their audiences.
“What ‘performative’ refers and relates to in social science is the communicative powers of research and the natural involvement of an ‘audience’,” Dr Jones continued. “The performative section of the 2010 conference is seeking presenters who will connect with their audience in order to establish a dialogue of engagement and emotion.
“The two most important components of PSS are both social science
AND art, not one or the other,” Dr Jones concluded.
Each day of the three-day conference at BU will feature a 'main performative event' during lunchtime including an appearance by a Latin jazz trio led by Norma Daykin, Professor of Arts in Health at the University of the West of England; a facilitated ‘improve’ session involving delegates and a Bournemouth-based theatre director and a ‘Studio Imaginarium’ TV show facilitated by BU’s renowned Media School in the University’s state-of-the-art HD television studio.
BU students will also create a film about the 'conference experience' to be shown at the end of the final day (8 Sept). Several 'permanent displays' will also feature over the three days including Moleskin sketchbooks produced by the host School of Health & Social Care in its ReThink HSC project; a quilt by one of the delegates that encourages dialogue and reflexivity; a kinetic art installation in various materials focusing on the skin as the medium for social interaction; and a short auto-ethnographic use of stock film clips by Dr Kip Jones from BU’s Centre for Qualitative Research and the Media School that create a battery of visual memories which have become recurring themes in his own productions.
Daily tea and coffee breaks will feature performative presentations, including a participatory workshop exploring sensory responses through the medium of clay which contribute to the concept of humanisation of health and social care; song writing and performance as a direct challenge to more formal academic methods.
Conference tea breaks will be used for ‘open mic’ poetry ‘shots’, organised by Helen Gregory from the University of Gloucestershire, who runs the Poetry&Words stage at Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts. Helen welcomes established and emerging poets of the stage and those more accustomed to working on the page to participate.
The 8th Biennial Qualitative Research Conference will feature 159 abstracts with delegates from 19 different countries focusing on five key themes: * Performative Social Science * Humanising Health and Social Care through Qualitative Research * Qualitative Research and Contemporary Culture * Philosophical, Methodological and Ethical Perspectives * Reflections and Developments from Diverse Disciplines
For further information please contact: Sally-Ann Green on (0)1202 962179 or email: sagreen@bournemouth.ac.uk
6-8 September // Talbot Campus, Bournemouth University
