Enacting Research: Disability Studies in Education and Performative Inquiry

• In Event: Practicing Disability Studies in Education, Acting Toward Social Change

Abstract

Objective

In this paper, I make the case for integrating arts-based research, specifically theatre arts, and disability studies in education as a means to provide access to DSE research and practice for an audience beyond the academy. I argue that moving beyond traditional models for teaching and scholarship can move us closer to realizing the kind of social change advocated by DSE scholars.

Theoretical Framework

Arts-based research developed during the 1970s-1990s (Simner et al, 2006). In the four decades since its inception, arts-based research has broadened and deepened the qualitative paradigm through varied representational methods and forms that continue to contribute new theoretical perspectives (Leavy, 2009) and has proven its capacity to transform consciousness, refine the senses, promote autonomy, raise awareness, and express the complex feeling-based aspects of social life (Eisner, 2002, 10-19). Likewise, Leavy (2009) argues that arts-based research practices promote critical awareness and suit “social-justice-oriented research that seeks to reveal power relations (often invisible to those in privileged groups)…build coalitions across groups, and challenge dominant ideologies” (p. 13). In light of these documented outcomes, I contend that arts-based research is relevant to the social justice agenda of DSE scholars.

It is also worth noting that disability studies (DS) scholars have long relied upon the humanities as a framework to study disability (Snyder, Bruggemann, & Garland-Thomson, 2002) and have contributed much to legitimizing narratives of individuals with disabilities as scholarly sources of valued knowledge (Couser, 2009). Moreover, theater-based scholarly work within DS has opened space for creative works (Lewis, 2006) and theories (Sandahl & Auslander, 2005) that challenge traditional boundaries and promote alternative ways to understand disability. I believe that that DSE is well-positioned at this time to extend the work of DS scholars to the educational arena.

Modes of inquiry

In this paper, I describe two examples of integrating DSE with theatre arts: 1) a cross-program collaboration between myself and the director of the graduate educational theatre program at CCNY where I teach a course that integrates DSE and theatre for teaching artists seeking teacher certification; and 2) a partnership between myself, a professional playwright, and a professional violist to co-create and produce an ethnodrama based on narratives by mothers of children with disabilities.

Evidence

Data sources for the graduate course in educational theatre include curriculum content, samples of student reflections, and videoclips of class discussions. Data sources for the theatrical partnership include descriptions of our collaborative process, script excerpts, and plans for distribution and support.

Results

Data gleaned from the sources listed above demonstrate the transformative potential of integrating DSE and theatre arts. In particular, I share ways in which theatre artists apply new understandings of disability and inclusion to theatre contexts in public schools as well as within the NYC theatre community.

Significance

I argue that this work represents the potential of DSE to create new knowledge through collaborations with other disciplines as well as alternative ways to bridge theory to practice in ways that move us closer to impacting the lives of people with disabilities.

Author

• Jan W. Valle, City College of New York - CUNY