Knowing Through Improvisational Dance: A Collaborative Autoethnography

Abstract

This article is a collaborative autoethnographic reflection about two dance-based research projects. Our objectives for the projects were two-fold: to practice knowledge production and mobilization in a way that diverged from dominant traditional Western scholarship, and to re-examine our engagement with the self-injury focus of previous research. With our collaborative meaning making came new dilemmas and unanticipated relationship development. Through dance and collaborative writing, we discovered a vulnerability that could cast doubt on dominant knowledge practices. As a relational praxis, two stories converged to facilitate critically reflexive perspectives and less dominant ways of knowing directed toward social justice. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs170216

Keywords

• collaborative autoethnography
• arts-based methods
• dance-based research
• knowledge practices
• social justice