"This much needed contribution to current development debates provides a powerful analysis of the way the arts can build connection in a disconnected world. In a world where individualism frames human thought, this monograph articulates the power of arts to build the empathy necessary to challenge us all to re-examine, re-think, and re-imagine what it is to be truly human."
Dr Victoria Jupp Kina, Social Research Consultant, Social Research, ReImagined.
This book embodies that rare type of scholarship which combines academic astuteness with a caring narrative. Detailed analytical insights and rich individual case studies provide both theoretical breadth and innovative practical guidance. This book is essential reading for all those who strive to promote global development that is participatory, empowering, inclusive, and enriching.
Dr Ana Ljubinkovic, Assistant Professor in Sociology, College of the Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, California State University, Stanislav.
"This original volume centres art's ability to energise and tap into the aesthetic, emotional, affective and somatic realms where so much research fears to go. Critically attuned to ongoing questions about ethics, scale, impacts and, community ownership, this book bridges different literatures, art forms, and contexts to position the arts as a vital (but still underappreciated) form of research/knowledge creation in global development."
Dr Rosie Meade, Lecturer and Vice-Head for Curriculum and Academic Development, School of Applied Social Studies, University College Cork, Ireland.
This ground-breaking volume is a compelling call for greater integration of artistic ways of knowing, doing, and being in development research. The twelve case studies, conceptually and theoretically framed by the opening and closing chapters, offer practical, critical, and inspiring examples of what is possible, and of the profound insights that arts-based research can generate about the complex work of change. This is a must-read book for development researchers everywhere, whether in the academy or embedded within NGOs.
Gillian Howell PhD, Musician | Researcher | Educator, Melbourne Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Melbourne (2023-2026), Research Fellow, Laurier Centre for Music in the Community, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.