ELAN 8590

"Anthropology that doesn't break your heart just isn't worth doing anymore"
Ruth Behar, The Vulnerable Observer

Arts-Based Inquiry in Diverse Learning Communities
***ELAN 8590*Special Topics***
New Course!
Fall 2005
Course Instructor: Dr. Melisa Cahnmann

Course Description:

This course examines techniques of arts-based scholarship to increase the value, validity, and impact of qualitative research for understanding culturally and linguistically diverse learning communities. Students will:

Explore the history and theory of arts-based and poetic approaches to educational research in culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
Practice the techniques and craft involved in arts-based approaches to inquiry.
Complete a pilot arts-based inquiry project among culturally and linguistically diverse learning communities.
Create a critical community for arts-based research through readings, discussions, and practice.

Questions? Interest? Contact the professor: cahnmann@uga.edu
Permission of the Department (POD)
Prerequisites Include ERSH 7400, ERSH 8410, and/or Instructor approval

Sample of Course Readings:

Boal, A. (1985). Theatre of the oppressed (C. A. McBride & M.-O. L. McBride, Trans.). New York: Theatre Communications Group.

Blumenfeld-Jones, D. S. (1995). Dance as a mode of research representation. Qualitative Inquiry, 1(4), 391-401.

Donmoyer, R., & Yennie-Donmoyer, J. (1995). Data as drama: Reflections on the use of readers theater as a mode of qualitative data display. Qualitative Inquiry, 1(4), 402-428.

Eisner, E. W. (1991). The enlightened eye: Qualitative inquiry and the enhancement of educational practice. New York: Macmillan.

Finley, S., & Knowles, J. G. (1995). Researcher as artist/artist as researcher. Qualitative Inquiry, 1(1), 110-142.

Lawrence-Lightfoot, S., & Hoffmann Davis, J. (1997). The art and science of portraiture. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Loizos, P. (2000). Video, Film and Photographs as Research Documents. In M. W. Bauer & G. D. Gaskell (Eds.), Qualitative researching with text, image and sound: A practical handbook for social research.

Piirto, J. (2002). The question of quality and qualifications: Writing inferior poems as qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 15(4), 431-446.

Smith, A. D. (2000). Talk to me: Listening between the lines. New York: Random House.