PROJECT TITLE:
Ibali: storying new discourses of educational inclusion/exclusion in the UK, Nigeria, and South Africa
Project Sponsor: Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) (£503 327)
HEHD Research Member: Dr Faith Mkwananzi (Co-Investigator)
PI: Alison Buckler (The Open University)
Period: Two years (Start date: TBA)
Project Summary
The project builds on the existing AHRC/GCRF-funded Ibali Storytelling Research Network which brought together storytelling academics and practitioners from across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The network raised three concerns relevant to education and development and how these are researched: 1) an empirical concern around the under-conceptualised buzzword of ‘inclusion’ and the often-inadequate consideration of how research processes that generate knowledge around inclusion are, in themselves, inclusive; 2) a methodological concern related to the often under-theorised and uncritical use of storytelling in education and development research and practice; 3) an ethical concern with the privileging of students in high-income contexts in relation to creative, arts-based approaches and the positioning of storytelling as an ‘appropriate’, ‘traditional’ method for research in Africa. The project centres these concerns in a digital storytelling research study with young people, teachers, teacher educators and policy makers from Nigeria, South Africa, and the UK to answer the following questions:
1. How are narratives of educational inclusion and exclusion framed by young people, teachers, teacher educators and policy makers?
2. How can general principles of storytelling research be adapted to specific contexts in appropriate ways?