Meeting Your Ghosts

This paper reports the perceptions of a group of social work students who undertook an introductory Family Therapy course which had a focus on families of origin. Perceptions of family of origin changed for 38 family therapy students who responded to pre and post course questionnaires. Their responses support the author's experience of the need to understand the source of emotional reactions arising within the therapist during sessions.     

Negotiating a third space for participatory research with people with learning disabilities: an examination of boundaries and spatial practices

The focus of this article is participatory research with and by people with learning disabilities. Drawing on discussions that took place across a series of seminars, we use the concepts of space and boundaries to examine the development of a shared new spatial practice through creative responses to a number of challenges. We examine the boundaries that exist between participatory and non-participatory research; the boundaries that exist between different stakeholders of participatory research; and the boundaries that exist between participatory research with people with learning disabilities and participatory research with other groups. With a particular focus on participatory data analysis and participatory research with people with high support needs, we identify a number of ways in boundaries are being crossed. We argue that the pushing of new boundaries opens up both new and messy spaces and that both are important for the development of participatory research methods.     

Violence,the occult and the everyday: a Radio Zulu drama of the 1980s

This article explores how the medium of radio through the genre of radio drama enables the exploration of issues of power and violence in a way that is both public and intensely private. It argues that through the airing of a topic as feared, as secret and yet as pervasively present – or potentially so – as the supernatural and the occult, radio drama can open up for debate areas of modern life around which there is often official silence. The focus is on a double serial drama, single parts of a proverb, Yiz’ Uvalo and Inqobo Yisibindi (“In Spite of Fear, the Victor is Courage”). I discuss the power of radio to create an interactive community and particular public and the power of this particular drama to harness listeners’ interest, emotions and fears. It had the ability to fascinate and delight and to create a parallel world, which intersected with events but at the same time kept its own internal dynamic which impelled its listeners on with it. I explore too the particular elements within people’s lives and imaginings with which this drama interacted, and how this contributed to its extraordinary “success.”     

Animating community supported agriculture in North East England: Striving for a ‘caring practice’

This paper draws on a case study of a new Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) scheme in the north of England to draw attention to some of the ethical issues encountered when using a participatory action research approach to animating CSA. Both CSA and participatory action research have been associated with the concept of ‘caring practice’ and an ‘ethic of care’. CSAs can be conceptualised as attempts to engage with ethical issues in the food system. Action research is also a value laden approach. The case study illustrates how the complexities of conducting this type of research leads to many instances of having to make ethical choices and claims that these decisions are helpfully framed by Warren’s (1999) claim that these choices should aim to result in ‘care practices’. Similar dilemmas and choices will arise in other contexts and require situated negotiation and decision making. Focussing on caring practice may help to construct a rationale for consistent choices.