COMUNICAZIONI SOCIALI - 2021/2, special issue

Edited by Nico Carpentier and Johanna Sumiala

Slowly but surely, arts-based research is making its entry into Communication and Media Studies, moving away from a rather exclusive focus on written texts and oral presentations. This special issue is driven by the belief that still more could be done at the level of theorizing arts-based research practices, and at the level of deploying them in different contexts. The aim of this special issue is to further stimulate the discussion on this topic, bringing together a diversity of voices, formats and approaches. In order to translate this objective into practice, a very strict (and restrictive) definition of arts-based research was avoided. Instead, all contributions that allowed for an artistic-academic dialogue on arts, academia and research were welcomed.

This became translated into an intentionally-kept-vague structure, with more general reflective texts first, and then a series of more case-study-based approaches and more targeted and specific discussions, divided into a cluster on participation and interaction on the one hand, and mediation on the other. For the very same purpose, also a variety of formats was welcomed, including multimodal formats, more artistic contributions and policy-oriented statements, even though all contributors were asked for relatively short contributions, to maximize the diversity of voices. This strategy produced a variety of contributions that aim to inspire researchers in the field of Communication and Media Studies, and beyond, to reflect about the potentialities (and limitations) of arts-based research, and to consider adapting some of these approaches and methods in their own academic practice.

http://comunicazionisociali.vitaepensiero.com/scheda-fascicolo_contenitore_digital/nico-carpentier-johanna-sumiala/comunicazioni-sociali-2021-1-arts-based-research-in-communication-and-media-studies-001200_2021_0001-370748.html