Collaboration before collaborative research: The development of ‘Distant Voices’

Abstract

In this article, we explore the origins and early development of the ongoing collaborative action research project ‘Distant Voices – Coming Home’. We begin by explaining why and how our somewhat different backgrounds and interests came to be connected in Distant Voices. We then go on to explore the project’s first two development stages. In discussing the first phase (Distant Voices 1), we focus on how and why we developed creative processes and practices as modes of communication, knowledge exchange and public engagement. In discussing the second phase (Distant Voices 2), we reflect upon how and why these practices came to be seen as constitutive of sites of personal and community development and of knowledge generation. In conclusion, we reflect briefly on the challenges of formalising Distant Voices in its current form – as a large-scale, collaborative research project.