This presentation discusses a postqualitative inquiry where both the theory and method stem from my experiences as a mother of a disabled child. There is a plethora of research about disabled children and their families that identifies a ‘host of subject positions occupied by parents and/or mothers: fighting parents, disabling parents, tragic parents, empowering parents’ that fails to recognise that parents defy categorisation (Goodley, 2007:146). In contrast, this inquiry recognises that ‘the process of becoming – or not yet being – forms an essential part of parents’ engagement with and resistance to a whole host of disability knowledges’ (Goodley, 2007:146). The research approach draws on Blanchot’s conception of conversation as ‘plural speech’ (Blanchot, 1993). This form of conversation does not seek to ‘annex the other’ or study them ‘as a thing’, instead it is conditioned by ‘a relation of infinity and strangeness’ (Bojesen, 2019:653). What matters is the movement of thought that takes place between.
Seven mothers took part in this inquiry with me, each taking part in a year-long ‘conversation’ with me about inclusion. They were each invited to bring an object as a conversation starter, following which the conversations flowed. Part way through the inquiry following one of the conversations, a rhizomatic ‘choose your own adventure’ document was introduced, which led to cross-pollination across the conversations leading to new lines of flight.
To avoid the lure of representing the conversations as ‘data’ to be analysed and understood, the process of analysis began with the creative activity of collage/scrapbooking, offering ‘an entanglement with materiality and affect that establishes empathy, alters perception, or disturbs the status-quo’ (Flint, 2018). Through the use of collage old objects are transformed into something new, as visual and written materials are cut and ripped apart, stuck together in new formations, in an ongoing experimental patchworking process (Vandecasteele et al., 2021). Within this presentation, I will share some of the collages that have been produced as part of this doctoral inquiry. Attendees will be asked if they would like to respond to these either in writing or if they prefer and have paper, glue and an old newspaper or magazine to hand, in the form of collage.
· Blanchot, M. (1993). The Infinite Conversation (S. Hanson, Trans.). Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press.
· Bojesen, E. (2019) Conversation as educational research. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 51, (6), 650-659.
· Flint, M. (2018) Cartographies of Memory and Affect: Nomadic Subjectivities. Art/Research International, 3, (2), 6-19.
· Goodley, D. (2007) Becoming rhizomatic parents: Deleuze, Guattari and disabled babies. Disability & Society, 22, (2), 145-160.
· Vandecasteele, M., De Schauwer, E., Blockmans, I. & Van Hove, G. (2021) Art/Research International, 6, (2), 478- 504.
Bio:
Sharon Smith is a final year Doctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham. She has a daughter who is 18 years old who has Down syndrome. Her research interests include the subjectivity of parents of disabled children, co-production/parental engagement, risk/vulnerability, belonging and inclusion. Her PhD was supported by a 3 year BERA Doctoral Fellowship.
@Sharon_L_Smith
SLS945@student.bham.ac.uk