Fluid Fields : The Un/Making of the Research Field in Transdisciplinary Knowledge Co-Production

Abstract

Abstract: en The quest for transdisciplinary research requires academics to collaborate with actors from heterogeneous fields, both inside and outside academia. In order to transcend disciplinary, social, symbolic or physical boundaries, co-producers of knowledge need to deal with multiple relations, theories and practices taken for granted in each field involved. This presentation explores how field alignments can be made between researchers, artists and activists in order to create synergies and produce knowledge collaboratively. It draws on a participatory research project developed with diverse actors from Brazil, Colombia, Mozambique, Cameroon and Germany, who share a common interest in understanding whether and how the arts can contribute to processes of transformation in communities afflicted by violence, racism and social exclusion. The reflection shows how the research field emerges as a fluid third space co-created by actors with specific knowledges and positionalities. Ultimately, this presentation raises fundamental questions on whose queries, assumptions, interests, theories and methodologies count as legitimate, giving them the power to (re)define a research field.

Title: Fluid Fields : The Un/Making of the Research Field in Transdisciplinary Knowledge Co-Production
Publication type: Conference paper
Language: English
Funded by: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; EXC2052/1 Africa Multiple, DFG Project number 390713894
Presented at: Workshop of the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research and the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence : Fielding the Field, Johannesburg, Südafrika ; Bayreuth, Deutschland, 21.05.2021
Year: May 21, 2021
Status: Not peer reviewed
Relation: Description