Editorial:
On Creative Approaches to Research
Welcome
to the second issue of Exchanges: the Warwick Research
Journal,
an online academic publishing platform for high quality articles and
shorter
critical reflections, from researchers at the University of Warwick, as
well as
researchers from the wider academic community.
The
journal not only publishes interdisciplinary
work, but also brings together early career researchers (all past or
current
fellows of the Institute of Advanced Study at Warwick) from a range of
disciplines to work collaboratively on the editorial board. For this
issue, the
editorial board represents a wide range of disciplinary areas:
philosophy, literature,
psychology, history, theatre, and education. The diversity of interests
and
perspectives on the editorial board is important for the process of
bringing
research to a wider audience, which is a global university concern when
demonstrating
the value of the research we engage in. As editors who are all engaged
in
research that is socially engaged, it has been an interesting
experience to
produce something that is delivered exclusively online, which has a
great
potential to reach the wider academic community and beyond; to reach
the people
that form the focus of our research.
By
putting this issue together, we have had a
chance to consider what this collection of articles, critical
reflections and
conversations says about what is going on in the wider research
community today
and how this connects with what we have observed from our own
disciplinary
perspectives. Editing the submissions and engaging with authors has
been an exciting
process and we have seen some great examples of creativity and
innovation in
approaches to research. This issue reflects, to some degree, where we
are today.
Through the content of the articles and the way in which the
author’s have
conducted their research, this issue speaks to those concerns and
interests
that we find ourselves preoccupied with in the modern day.
Exchange,
debate, and dialogue
We
are honoured to follow the words of Professor
Randy Schekman (University of California at Berkeley), Nobel Prize
Winner in
2013, who also became known for criticising the restrictive publishing
policies
of some top-tier journals[1].
eLife
(http://elife.elifesciences.org/)
is an excellent example of the possibilities of open, online
publishing,
encouraging a global dialogue in new and important science research.
The format
of articles is also open, encouraging the inclusion of images,
animations, and
other media to enhance the dissemination.
This
issue continues to promote research that
engages the global research community, both in terms of being
relevant to
multiple disciplines and relevant to researchers from different places
around
the globe. We also continue to support
different formats, such as our ‘Exchanges: Conversations With
...’ section, containing
interviews with, and reflections on, influential figures in the
academic
community.
In
‘Conversations with ... Mona Siddiqui’, Angela
Quartermaine engages in an insightful discussion with British-Muslim
academic, Mona
Siddiqui, who is Professor of Islamic and interreligious studies at the
University of Edinburgh. Professor Siddiqui is well known for her
insightful
contributions to BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day, The
Times and the Guardian,
along with her research in classical Islamic Law and Christian-Muslim
relations. In the article featured in this issue, Professor Siddiqui
discusses globally
significant themes of religion, terrorism and multiculturalism,
relating this
to contemporary ethical issues.
In
‘Conversations with ... Hannah Jones’, Amy
Hinterberger talks with Hannah Jones
about her innovative research in sociology, which focuses on
multiculture, multiculturalism
and immigration in Britain. Jones’ research draws together issues
relevant to
politics, local government policy and research methods. The themes of
both
‘Conversations’ are of growing concern beyond the context
of Britain, with issues
relating to multiculturalism becoming a growing feature in our
globalised world.
Another
good example of such a global approach is
found in the article ‘Global Environmental Liability:
Multinational
Corporations Under Scrutiny’ by Vidyaranya Namballa, which
surveys the complex
legal status of such organisations and the consequent difficulties
faced by
those who seek justice for the environmental harms that result from
their
activities. Reading this article brings to the fore the interconnected
and
complex nature of the world in which we live and alerts us to concerns
that we
share across the globe, of wanting to protect the environment in which
we live.
This
year: 2014
As
we launch Issue Two in April 2014—450 years
since the birth of Shakespeare—it seems apt that our featured
section, Sidelights on Shakespeare, is devoted to
this important cultural figure.
The
articles featured were presented at an
interdisciplinary series of seminars supported by the Humanities
Research
Centre (University of Warwick), Sidelights on Shakespeare, which has been running successfully
since 2010. The brainchild of two doctoral students from the Department
of
English and Comparative Literary Studies, Alice Leonard and Peter
Kirwan, the
aim of Sidelights on Shakespeare is to highlight the ways in
which
Shakespeare is seen through the prism of a range of academic
disciplines and
how, in turn, such approaches may feed back into the field of
Shakespeare
Study.
The
articles featured in the journal demonstrate
the continued interest in Shakespeare and his works over four
centuries. The
authors do not just take a historical-cultural or literary perspective
on
Shakespeare’s works but relate this to where we find ourselves
today, using
social media such as Twitter and how his words are used for our
modern-day purposes
and political contexts. The article by John Curtis, a practising
barrister,
explores the role of Shakespeare in the context of a modern law case,
which
uses the example of King Lear as a
rhetorical device. Gary Watt responds by taking a sceptical position as
to the
value of quoting such literary works in cases. He argues that using
such texts
may get in the way of the deductive reasoning required to pass
judgement and
effectively communicate these reasons to others.
The
other two articles in the Sidelights on
Shakespeare section explore how historical practices of interpretation
and
appropriation have lead to the playwright and his work being given a
number of
rich and varied ‘after lives.’ In ‘Fiona, Phyliida,
and ‘F’-Word,’ Stephanie
Tillotson examines the issue of cross-gender casting in Shakespearean
drama,
arguing for a more nuanced approach to examining this phenomena, that
might
take into account the specific intentions, politics and experiences of
practitioners and audiences alike. Catherine Alexander in
‘Shakespeare and War’
provides a detailed survey of how Shakespeare’s personal
autobiography, as well
as his plays and his status as cultural icon, have been ascribed
differing
degrees of prominence in relation to the motives of those who have
cited him in
times of war. She effectively demonstrates how Shakespeare has been
‘written’
into public memory in ways that exemplify a great deal of
inventiveness, as
much as also revealing the need for a sense of collective cultural
imagination.
Sidelights
on Shakespeare continues
to attract eminent speakers from a
variety of fields. For instance, alongside those included in this
special
feature for Exchanges, the series has featured the Guardian
Theatre
Editor, Andrew Dickson, and will include future visits by Jami Rogers
of the
British Black and Asian Shakespeare initiative, IAS Visiting Fellow,
Professor
Angus Fletcher as well as a return visit from Dr Paul Prescott of the
English
Department at Warwick.
Creative
Research
In
working on the current issue, we have
reflected on what it is to be ‘creative’ in academia and
how we can adopt
creative approaches and methods in our own work. Our thoughts have been
prompted by the ‘Creative Research Methods’ dialogue, which
captures the
thoughts of a number of researchers working in different disciplines.
This
article came about from an online exchange of ideas, which focused on a
core
set of questions. As a result, they develop ideas about what
‘creative’ means,
effective use of technology, how space can encourage creativity and
what this
means for the role of the researcher. This article provides our readers
with
the opportunity to reflect on their own research methods and to think
about
what creativity would mean for them in their work.
We
see creativity as trying something out that is
concerned with the process, not a fixed set of results; it is
necessarily
open-ended. ‘Creative’ refers to innovative ideas or ways
of thinking that go
beyond standard practices, or which amalgamates methodology or theory
in a new
way. Crucially, it is the diversifying of information and
material. To
speak of creativity in research is to attempt to approach knowledge
production
differently. In some cases, this means rethinking assumptions about
what
knowledge is, how and why it is valued, and what it can do. Creative
approaches
to research often attempt to re-evaluate what has been taken for
granted, to
unsettle static ideas and to find unexpected ways of answering old or
persistent questions.
It
is this idea of creativity that we think is
exemplified in a number of the articles in this issue. Our Critical
Reflections
have demonstrated how we can take a creative approach by bringing
together
researchers from different disciplines to focus on a common theme.
Grace
Huxford’s discussion of the interdisciplinary conference united
researchers on
the topic of ‘Representing Prisoner of War Experience’ in
order to reflect on
the growth of prisoner of war studies over the last decade.
Huxford’s article
illustrates the ways in which scholars have taken up the challenge of
‘representing’ the prisoner of war in different and
creative ways. For example,
Huxford describes how the archaeological approach of Gilly Carr
considers
material objects—from cigarette packets to an artificial
spleen—presents a
significant new way to investigate the lives of the captive.
Claire
Sewell and Jennifer Crane’s reflections on
their conference, ‘“Made Up People”: A Conference on
an Interdisciplinary
Approach to Labelling’ demonstrate that the concept of
‘labelling theory’—first
outlined by philosopher Ian Hacking nearly thirty years
ago—remains a useful
tool in the study of categorisation and identity formation. Sewell and
Crane
demonstrate a creative approach to ‘labelling theory’ in
exploring the
relevance of the concept in contemporary interdisciplinary research,
whilst
also seeking to historicise Hacking’s work in the context of
1980s scholarship.
We
can also see the emergence of the idea of
collective creativity, which is the key theme in Hind and
Gekker’s ‘Outsmarting
Traffic, Together,’ which looks at the rise of 'social
navigation' in the
automotive world. Focusing their discussion on a new driving
application called
Waze, they argue that by understating how ‘play’ is
configured as part of
everyday activity, it might be possible to appreciate the social
politics
implicated in new navigation platforms and driving practices.
Creativity
can be very hard to achieve and so it
is great to see so many wonderful examples of researchers taking new
approaches, taking risks and producing exciting and insightful research
as a
result. Taking a creative approach may lead to original, insightful
research
but it has a high risk of not succeeding—the very nature of it
being creative
suggests that it has not been tried before. But don’t we also
learn something
when it doesn’t work? It seems that there is value in discovering
that
something does not work. The important thing, as is well-demonstrated
by the
‘Creative Research Methods’ article, is to have the
conversation and see where
that leads us.
There
are many other challenges to taking a
creative approach. It can be difficult to convince others of the merit
of such
an approach, to get others to take the risk with you, or to find
somewhere to
share your results. We have noticed some great examples of such
creative
practice at the University of Warwick. The University is very good at
diversifying itself and being creative. One example of this is working
with
external widening participation organisations, for example The
Brilliant Club,
in which the university engages PhD students with local schools in
order to
increase school student's uptake at top universities. This is a very
innovative
way of using the academic and research based skills of PhD students and
applying these niche skills and experience to a new domain of secondary
school
education.
This
year, Warwick hosts the International
Federation of Theatre Research’s World Congress in July/August,
an event that
will foreground the ways in which performing arts scholars and
practitioners
are not only employing interdisciplinary techniques in their research,
but also
redefining the role of creative practices in society at large. This
year, the
theme for IFTR is ‘Stratification,’ which indicates an
attention to the
underlying structures that define our knowledge of the world and its
production, as well as a willingness to explore alternative,
undiscovered, and
often subversive strategies for problematising and improving it.
Furthermore,
we considered the idea of creative
approaches in relation to the journal itself: we want the journal to be
a place
where researchers can start conversations with the wider academic
community.
One of the aims of this journal is to actively facilitate
discussion
across disciplines and encourage researchers to engage with the
articles in
each issue. We want to encourage readers to engage and participate in
the
published articles by using our new discussion feature, which we hope
will
provide the chance for the authors to discuss their work with the wider
community and develop insightful lines of enquiry from the
conversations that
result.
We
have ambitions that
this journal can help researchers break the mould of traditional
formats of
presenting research. In fostering creativity and innovation in
academia, Exchanges is open to publishing in
different formats and unusual collaborations. We also want to encourage
researchers through the critical reflections to share their work at
earlier
stages of research, which will help keep the research community vibrant
by sharing
and discussing work that is continuing to evolve, giving an opportunity
to influence
and develop current research. In the current issue, this is exemplified
by Emma
Parfitt’s ‘Storytelling as a Trigger for Sharing
Conversations’, which focuses
on storytelling as an important tool for encouraging young people to
share
their experiences and emotional responses with one another. We hope
that this
will encourage people to engage with Parfitt’s research project
at this early
stage, to offer other disciplinary perspectives. Publishing this
article gives
us the opportunity to track the research process as it happens and see
where
her project takes her next.
This
approach to
publishing developing research is especially significant in
interdisciplinary
research—by publishing at an early stage enables researchers to
connect with
those working on similar projects in other disciplines. Such
connections can be
incredibly fruitful and enhance the research of all those involved.
This
ambition is also reflected in our approach to publishing in that we aim
to
publish work within three months of acceptance, ensuring that the end
product
is timely and relevant.
Thanks
We
hope you find this issue as stimulating as we
have and that the connections that emerge, not just between the
articles but also
with your own research, will lead to exciting avenues for the future of
our
disciplines. We want to invite you to consider our reflections on the
articles
in this issue and use our new Disqus function
to join us in talking about the interesting connections that emerge
from these
articles.
Finally,
we want to thank Professor Schekman for
his thought-provoking foreword, Professor Siddiqui for her contribution
and to all
of the peer reviewers who volunteered their time to read each of our
submissions carefully and provide helpful, constructive comments for
our authors.
We also want to thank Yvonne Budden, Academic Support Manager
(Research),
University of Warwick Library, for her continued support and assistance
with
the development of the journal.
We
look forward to the next issue, which is due
to be published October 2014.
The
Editors
Lauren
Bellaera/Psychology
Awelani
Moyo/Theatre Studies
Karen
Simecek/Philosophy and Literature
Rebecca
Williams/Centre for the History of
Medicine