Arts-Based Methods for Decolonising Participatory Research

Chapter 1

Introduction: Arts-based methods for decolonising participatory research

Tiina Seppälä, Melanie Sarantou and Satu Miettinen

We are three colleagues at the University of Lapland, all doing participatory research but in different fields. Two of us are working in the Faculty of Art and Design and the third one in the Faculty of Social Sciences. We’ve collaborated with each other in many projects during the past few years. Trying to create epistemic dialogue across our own disciplines has been sometimes difficult, but most of the time very rewarding, as it has contributed a lot to each of us in terms of broadening our understanding about how diverse a field participatory research really is and how multiple forms it can take in practice. Editing this book together has been a collective effort on our part to self-educate ourselves and to share with and to learn from each other, as well as from the other authors in this book, about the transformative potential and the challenges and limitations of arts-based methods for decolonising participatory research. We sincerely hope we can also dialogue with you. Please leave a message to us at artsbasedmethods@ulapland.fi. We look forward to hearing your views and thoughts – Tiina, Melanie and Satu.

Life Story Mandalas, exhibited at the Helinä Rautavaara Museum in Espoo, Finland, 2017.