Imagining possibilities with queer critical arts-based research

Arts-based and queer pedagogies have much to offer educators and researchers interested in interdisciplinary approaches to working with young people. In this keynote presentation, I draw from my doctoral research, which used critical arts-based research to explore students’ experiences of queer joy and challenge at school. Critical arts-based research (Finley et al, 2014) draws from critical pedagogy and applied theatre; it also shares characteristics with queer theory and aesthetics. I argue that these qualities give it the potential to “queer” traditional research practices (Fields et al, 2014) and enrich diverse fields of study with cross-disciplinary knowledge. In this presentation, I share examples of queer methods used in my study, which helped students embody their subjugated experiences, challenge the status quo, and imagine their school differently. I argue that these methods enacted a “pedagogy of utopia” (Busby, 2021) with moments of “disorientation” (Ahmed, 2006) that were both troubling and transformative. This pedagogical approach helped foster an environment of joyful subversion and collective agency in participants, while generating insights into their joys and challenges at school. The study’s methodological findings offer new “orientations” for educators interested in issues of social justice, as well as scholars looking to adopt artful methods into their research.