ARTS-BASED INQUIRY
Perform i n g Revol ution ary Pedagogy
Susan Finley
he tbcus oi this chapter is the usefulness
oi arts-based approaches to doing qLrali-
tative inquiry rvhen political activism
is the goal. Ref'erences rvere chosen to include both
theoretical discr"rssions about arts-based inquiry
methodologies and examples ol arts-based repre-
sentations as rvell as to underscore the notions of
usetulness and political activism that are served
by arts-based inquiry. In this revierv, special atten-
tion is given to arts-blsed research that is posi-
tioned torvard tuture dcvelopments in the freld of
socially responsible, politically activist, and locally
useful research methodologies. F'rorn an historical
perspective and fbr the purpose of cletining arts-
based research, the chapter aclclresses concerns
and issues that have dominated discussions about
arts-based research ntethocloicxties. Ultimately, it
is argued that arts-bascd research can contribute
greatly to "a radical ethicirl aesthetic. . .
{thatl
grounds its representations ofthe tvorld in a set of
interpretive practices that implernent critical race,
queer, and Third l\brtd postcolonial theory,,
( Denzin, 2000, p. 26 I .
)
This chapter begins rvith a description of
characteristics oi arts-based research that render
it unique among the various tbrms of postmod-
ern qualitative inquiry. Follorving this char-
acterization of arts-based research, it presents a
skeletal outline of broader social t-eatures that
provide a contextual backdrop for a radical,
ethical, and revolutionary arts-based inquiry.
Finally, the chapter concludes with an example
of comniunity-based, activist, arts-based inquiry.
The genealogy of arts-based research that I
have chosen to fbliorv is couched in the rvidely
shared belief that social science inquiry is alrvays
moral and political, and I tiLrther interpret this as
a timely proclarnation that its practitioners
should, theretbre, be purposeful in performing
inquiry that is activist, engages in public criti-
cisrn, and is resistant to neocouservative dis-
coLlrscs that threaten socitrl justice. tVloreover,
I believe that this purposctul turn to a revolution-
ary, perfbrmative research aesthetics thcilitates
critical race, indigenous, qlleer, feminist, and
border studies.
E[ 681
682 p HANDtsOOK 0F QUALITATIVE RESEARCH-CHAPTER 26

tr PosrliooERu lxrEcRxrror.rs rvhen the frame was shifted to take on new and What
diverse perspectives. For instance, writers such resear(
or Acttvrsrvr, Soct,rL SctENct,
as Guba (1967) identified the proliferation of to part
niqn Anr: DrprNrNrc rHE new questions as a protbund movement in social traditir
Fr,trunrs op Anrs-Bnsso INQutnv research arvay from questions concerning tech- mics o
nique to questions concerning theory, and he Not
Arts-based inquiry has emerged in postcolonial foresalv a refbrmist movement that would bring dards I

postmodern contexts, rvoven from complex "art" to inquiry (p. 64) as researchers sought questi<
threads of social, political, and philosophical shifts ways in which to merge theory and practice. New of the
in perspectives and practices across multiple dis- questions prompted new ways of looking, and Norma
course communities.lt has surtaced in the context the transformation of social science research to tion [o
of a reflexive turn that marked the social sciences, include qualitative methodologies began full bore and m
philosophy and literary criticism, science, educa- by the early 1970s (Schwandt,2000). tory, cr
tion, and the arts, and it is evidenced in particular Trvo primary issues arose to create a space of the
by the narrative turn in sociological discourse. for arts-based social science inquiry. First, the Inquir;
Arts-based inquiry is one methodological and dialogue turned to ethical issues that occur in Inquirl
theoretical genre among many new forms of qual- the relationship between researchers and the (r ee6)
itative inquiry. It is situated within rvhat Lincoln communities in which they work. Qualitative emerg(
(1995)described as an emerging tradition of par- researchers had embraced new practices that that rve
ticipatory critical action research in social science. redetined the roles of researchers and research resear(
Practitioners of inquiry in this iine propose rein- participants-who no longer rvere subjects but emotio
terpretation oi the methods and ethics of human instead were collaborators or even coresearchers- lectual
sociai research and seek to construct action- so that the lines between the researcher and the qualitir
oriented processes for inquiry that are useful researched blurred. In the context of this type of when c
within the local community where the research locally meaningful inquiry, researchers and par- In tl
originates.Arts-based inquiry, as it is practiced by ticipants were actively developing an ethics of care i99l/1,
academics doing human social research, fits his- that ultimately became a quality standard in the in the r
torically within a postmodern fiamervork that fea- new paradigm tbr social science research (Lincoln kind o
tures a developing activist dynamic among both & Reason, 1996). Rather than following the quan- among
artists and social researchers. titative scientific model of objectivity, qualitative school
Three historical stories are used here to social science inquiry rvas increasingly defined as ing ski
recount the genealogy of a radical aesthetic action-based inquiry that takes its forms through pretatit
inquiry: (a) the turn to activist social science, interpersonal, political, emotional, moral, and master
(b) the emergence of arts-based research (and ethical relational skills that develop and are shared addresr
the turn to activist arts), and (c) the turn to a rad- between researchers and research participants aged re
ical, ethical, and revolutionary arts-based inquiry (Lincoln, 1995; Lincoln & Reason, 1996). letters:
(and the emergence of revolutionary pedagogy). Second, questions and issues arose in this some (
new stance of researchers as community partners pertbrr
and initiated a "crisis of representation' (Denzin & ( reee)
The lurn to Activist Social Science tbr
Lincoln, 1994) that prompted questions from lear
Postmodern foundational shitis brought about researchers. Horv should research be reported? Are much t
new conceptualizations of how research works, the traditional approaches to dissemination ade- or scull
horv meanings are made, and lvhat social pur- quate for an expanding audience that includes a itcknou
poses research rnight serve. Social scientists local community? Holv do researchers "lvrite up" multipl
began to act on their realization that traditional their understandings rvithout "othering" their as rvide

techniques of research were not adequate to han- research partners, exploiting them, or leaving lVriting
dle the many questions that needed to be asked them voiceless in the telling of their own stories? devotec

\\'h.rt tilrnrs shoLrlcl rcscarch tirlic? F{orv carr
l'dscilrchcrs nrakc thcir tvork availablc irnrl usclLrl
lo participr.rlrts rrtthcr than protluce re ports in thc
tL.rdition o1'ac.rt{cniics rvriting firr othcr ac.rctc-
rn ics ()r polic)'nrakers?.
Norrtrariitionirl rnethods aucl rc',,isecl st.tn-
dirLcls lirr cvrrlLrating rcscalch cnrclqerl tiom tlrcse
r.lucstious rrncl in 1995 s.tve rise to the publication
ol' tlrc joLrrnal Qunlintira lnLyrit'l' (cdircd b1'
\ornrltn Dcnzin attcl Yt'ottttrt Iincoln) .ts a loc.r-
tion lirl ongoing rliscLtssious about thc prrlrcticcs
,trrd ructhoclolosics that titl<e pl.rcc in plrticipa-
torr', clitic.rl .rc tion tirluts oi rcscitrch tirr .t rev ie*,
( narrative social sciencc rcscarch. (.rrsev (1995)
ot thc tlrst 7 vc.trs tri publicatiou oi Qtrri/irrtlir'.'
Irr,lLrirv, scc Firtlev, 200i4). \\/r'iting in Qrrnlitttivc
Itt,lrrir ', Lincoln (199--) rrncl [-incoln .rncl [{casol
(199(r) iclcntiiicd particul.tr skills th.rt [rird
cncucrl iu thc netv tradition oiinquirv l'hc skrlls
lhrrt rrcre incr-e asinqlv ucccssilrv to nc\v par'.rdiuur
rcscrrrchcrs iuclLrdcci intcrpclsortrrl, ptllitical,
cnrotiortitl, rttorirl, aucl ctliic.tl contpctcncc; intcl-
Ic.lrri.rl r)i)cnncss irntl c|cativitv; ancl spiritrr.rl
qLr.rlitics rcl.itetl to t'rrprthv anrl undcrstituclinq
rr lt.'rr corttl trrttcrl rvitlt ltitrttitti e\ftgf ic11.a.
In tlr is ctlrttcxt o1' rcse alcli retilrnr, Eisncr (c.u.,
I
t)9 i/ I 99ii ) also .tlgr,tccl that srrcccsstrrl resctu'chcrs
in the ncrv soci.rl scicncc genre rctluirc a rliftcrcnt
li.incl ot' skill brrsc thrtu tvrrs prct'ioitslv expectccl
Jnr()rrq strciitl rcscirrchels. Hc proposctl a grarluate
:c]rool crrrriculLrm that v,tlucs stutlcnts' tlevcltlp-
irru sliills oi inr.rqination, prcrce Ptiou, .rrrd intcr-
frr.ctirtitrn oi thc qrr.rlitrcs rri thirrgs as rvcll irs
n).l5tlry ol sliills oi artistic lr'prcscntxtion. [i)
rt..ltl rcss tirc rcprc'scntatitltll crisis, [iisncr cucour-
.tgt'(l tcirclrirrg into tlrc cxistirrg tlclcls oi arts irntl
lctter':: 'l\r't, ltusic, tlatrce, prosc, ancl poctrv arc
st,nrc rri t]tc tirrnts that havc bccn iuvented to
Pt't lirr nr this iunctiou" (p. l-t-5) [.ilicrvisc, Scitlc
( 19991 r'isrr.rlizcci a stuclio ilpprcnticcship uroclel
tirr 1..,,ninq ir rvitle variety oi rcscarch sliill.s "in
ttttLch Lhc s.une \vav irs .rrtists lcitrn to plrint, cllltrv,
rrr scuJpt" (p. +70). Sirnilarlv,'liclnci,(l99ft, 1999)
.tciinorvlcrl!,cti titat .rLLthor.s' i.lttcutpts ltt inclucle
rttLrltiple tcrtLr.rl r,oiccs clllctl lirr narratiyc r.angc
,ts u idc anrl expcrirncutrrl as otltrcd iu litcratur.c.
\\j'itirrq irr ir spccirrl issuc of Qtnlintirc lttqrrirl,
cle votrrl to lifc history r.cscarcli that took its lbrrns
4
l:inlcy:
'\rts-lJirscd
Intlirirv d r,s.i
irr I itclaLy scnres,'l icrrrcl' ( I 999 ) obscn'etl,'' \Vlrat
thcsc authors .trc stlu{qlinq ovcr is hotv to qct ()Lrt
ol' the rcprrescrrtatiunal strrrightiirckct thitt sttcirrI
scientists ltat'e bccn in tilr ntost ot'this Lcntr.rv"
(p 309). Ile ctrntinLrcd, " t he attthors tvrtnt ttr
crciltc grciltct' uarritIive tlexibiIit,v in Iirrr', sltrrcc,
rrtcl voicc.'l'h.'il iissuurption is that rrtthcr thiur lt
stanclard prool akin to tltc tt.ttut'al scictttists,
reaclcrs malie meaniug thtut cntotivc and aitic-
tive ;.rspects ol a text" (pp. -l{)9-,1l0).
-lhus,
the tLlrn to rrctivisl socirl scicttcc
rvas sirtiLrlt.tncous ancl ntLttull rvitlt thc tttru ttt
explainecl that urclhodological shit'ts in rescarch
apprltlrrchcs arc tied ro politicirl or' lhcoretical
iutercsts ch.trsccl by social itutl ltisttllicr.tl circtLnr-
stanccs ancl thlt uarrirtivc lcscarch is prlliticalll'
situatcd in that it'UclibeL.rtcll' detics thc tixccs
oi alieurttio n, lt uont ie, .tn Itilt ilirt itlrt, ittt thorita t'i rr n -
isnr, iragrnentation, coutntotlil'icrtlion, dc1,t.gsx-
tion, irntl clispr,rss.'ssion' (p. 21-l). In tirc coutcrt trl-
irctivisur, what is called tirr is cxplcs-sivc lcscrtt'ch
that prlr;11x1,5 thc rnulticlintcusitlrtrtlitt' tri ltttntittt
litt irs ctlrnparecl rvith trLrth iinding, prool-s,
lrnd conclusivity' in trirrlitionirl social scicrtcc.
Ilccoguitiou oi thc prorvel r11,t.t."l'. bctrvccn tltc
rcscarchcr and tlte rcse.tt'chccl c.rllcd iirr thc
itdirplrttion oi Iitcrary filltns to scrt'c th.' Pr.Lrposc
oi rescirrch tcxts that rcpl'cscnt, its vividlv,ts
possible, the rvorcls as rvcll .rs thc rrorkis oi p.rr-
ticipr1p15. lhc prrcvailirtg cthics rti cat'c iutrott{l
rrcrv sociltl scicncc rcscrtlcltct s tttovccl ttirrrittit'u
rliscoursc (i.e., storl,tclling) to the firrelrottt trl
srlcial sciencc rcserrrch.
\\irrkins in rhis proliticalll' .rntl ethiciillr
chargccl context ol llrlrdct' crossin{, lrclivisL
lcscrtr-cltcrs brttkc nctv qlrutrcl, oftt-t'ing t'cscrtt'ch
narrirtivcs in rnLrltiplc lirer.rry, tbrttts. l)crtzin
(2004)rvrote,
Firpcrintcnt,rl, rcllcsive tt'iits ol ivr itirr'1 lltsl Lretsrrti
r'tltrtogt.tph ic tc\ts il rL' n()\v c()rt1 It torl (.r it ic.t
i.rlirtc. I
niu latir c pcrspr'clivcs lrltt c lrccorttc it ( cr) t r .l I la.lL Lr i d
oi countct -]tcgcnronic, tlccolorrtzittq tttr'tlrtrtirrlot{its
(\ltrtuit rtrtd Stvrdcttct', 1001, I l6) Srrrirrjrrrlisls,
lrntltropolouists, itnrl r'tlttcittors eorttittuc lo trplot'.'
ne\v \\irvs of corlposinr1 ethrroqraphr', lttttl eulttrritI
criticisrn is rtorv rrcccPlcd pr.rcticc (p. I)
684 s HANDBOOK 0F QUALITATIVE RESEARCH-CHAPTER 26

Indeed. Columbia University now offers its medical Activist art, in this self-ret-lective, early his de
students courses in literature, literary theory, and postmodern phase, according to Felshin (1995), is format
creative writing as part of its Program in Narrative characterized by six traits: t99Ut'
Medicine (Thernstrom, 2004). port of
r Innovative use of public space to address issues
of sociopolitical and cultural signit'icance
1. 1
The Emergence of Arts-Based Research r Encouragement of community or public partic-
b
ipation in arts making as a means of effecting
Within the context of burgeoning new prac- a
social change
tices that merged activist social science and tl
r Engagement of community participants in
narrative art forms, Eisner (1981) expounded acts of self-expression or self-representation 2.H
on the differences between scientific and artistic as a way of promoting voice and visibility el
approaches to qualitative research, giving rise to among participants and of making the personal at
arts-based educational research. One of Eisner's political si
important contributions rvas his insistence on the r Use of mainstream media techniques (e.g.,
power of form to infbrm that included a call to use billboards, posters, subway and bus advertising, 3. T.

newspaper inserts) to connect to a rvider audi- th

many dift-erent art forms (e.g., dance, film, plastic
ence and to subvert the usual uses of commer- ln
arts) as well as the various narrative forms that
cial forms
have proliferated in the new social science para- 4. TI
digm. Eisner's theories are couched in the histori-
r Immersion in community for preliminary
th
research and collaborations among artists and
cal antecedents of artists and social scientists ln
communities/constituencies that share a per-
rvhose lvorks seem virtually interchangeable-
sonal stake in the issues addressed 5. Tl
art that is social science and social science that I Conscious use of public spaces to contextualize is
is arttul. They are especially respectful of the artworks and to encourage audiences to det'ine hu
contributions that artists have made to under- themselves not as passive spectators but rather ar(
standing social life. In the new construction o[ as active participants in the artworks
social science, borders were crossed, but bound- 6. Ed

aries were similarly breached by postmodern In sum, Felshin defined "new public art" in terms inl
!va
artists seeking political voice and power and that recollect Lincoln's (1995) descriptions of
evi
audience-participant influence in the construc- developing trends in "new social science." In this
tion of social values. border-crossing dynamic, new work that has 7. Th
Cultural, historical, and political contexts that been created stands neither inside nor outside the bet
shaped the reform of social science research sim- realms of social science or art; instead, this work coI
ilarly invigorated political activism among artists. is located in the spaces fbrmed by emotionality, the

For example, Felshin (1995) argued that activist rep

intellect, and identity.
neI
art took hold in the context of f-eminist-driven In arts-based research, paradigms for mak-
paradigmatic shitls that emerged during the ing meaning in the contextual realms of art and
1970s and then expanded and institutionalized social science collide, coalesce, and restructure Eisner
over the subsequent 20 years. Felshin traced the to become something that is not strictly identifi- gences sti
particular int'luence of paradigmatic shitls on the able as either art or science. As Ulmer (1994) in which
role of artists in
society. She pointed out, fbr observed, "To do heuretics is to cross the dis- ening th
instance, that ivhereas activist art addresses a courses of art and theory" ( p, B t ). Heuretics refers construct
broad spectrum of social issues-homelessness, to creative processes of discovery and invention tive value
AIDS, violence against women, environmental such as those that have been enjoyed by arts- increasinl
neglect, sexism, racism, illegal immigration, and based researchers who have consciously brought and perfc
other topics-common methodologies, tbrmal the methodologies of the arts to define new prac- from liter
strategies, and activist goals are shared by new tices of human social inquiry. Eisner offered ing amon;
paradigm activist artists. seven organizing premises that make explicit privilege r

his detinition ol arts-based inquiry, and his
fbrmative book, I/le Enlightetrctl E7e (Eisner,
1991/1998), is presented as an argument in sup-
prort of each of the seven fbundations:
t. There trre multiple tvays in rvhich the rvorld can
be knorvn. Artists, rvriters, and dar.rcers, as lvell
as scientists, have intportant things to tell about
the tvorlcl.
Hurnan knorvleclge iti ir constrltcted torru
experience and, therctbre, is a ret.lection of mind
as rvell as of natLrre. Knol4edge is macle and not
sirnply discovered.
Tl.re terms throLrgh which huntans represent
their conception ol the rvolld hirve a major
intluence on rvhat they arc able to say about it.
-lhe
ellective use oi any lorm through n,hich
the rvorlcl is knorvn and represented t'erluires
i ntelligence.
'lhe selection of a lorm through rvhich lhe rvorld
is to be representccl not only influences rvhat
hunrans can sily but also intlLrences r4rat they
are likel,v to experience.
L,dLrcational inquiry rvill be rnore cornplete and
intbnriltive irs hunrans increase the rangc ol
rvays in rvhich thcy dcscribe, interprct, and
evrtluate the educational rvorld.
The particular tbrms of represertation lhat
bccome acceptable in lhc educationirl research
commLrnity are as nruch a political nrirtter as
thcy are irn epistenrological one. Nerv lbrms oi
representation, rvheu acceptable, n'i[[ LequiLe
lterv col-I.)petcltcles.
Eisner's argument rests in a mLrltiple intelli-
gences stance that holds that the re are valied rvarys
in n'hich the rvorld can be knorvn and that broad-
ening the range of perspectives available fbr
constructing knowleclge increases the infbnna-
tive value of research. Arts-based researchers are
increasingly using art tbrms that include visual
and pertbrrnins arts as rvell as fbrms borlolved
tion literature. This presents a bounclary cross-
ing among arts-based researchers; it critiques the
privilege ol language-bascd rvays ol knoiving, and
Finley: Arts-Based Inquiry tr 685
challenges status quo responses to the
it tirrther
question "lvhat is research?" There is a politicai
challenge in Eisner's tbundational constructiott.
Here again, he noted that ivho does research and
rvhether it is recogrrized as research ivhen it is
presented in art tbrms is a political issue linked to
education. Il research is to become a site tbr the
implementation of critical race, f'eminist, and
Third World methodologies (among others),
researchers need to emphasize and contiont the
of
polver issues underscored in Eisner's tbunda-
tions. There are multiple sociaily constructed
rvays of knorving the rvorld, and diversity is
achieved in and through the voices of diverse
people brought fonvard in the act of doing
research as rvell as in representing it. As I have
said elsewhere,
It is an irct oi politicitlemancipirtion ttom lhe
dorninant paradigm of science tor nelv paracligr.n
researchers to say "[ am doing art" and t0 mean
"l arn doing rescarch"-or vice versa. In either
utterance, that lrt and research itre common acts
rurakes a political stiltcrnent. (Finlcy, 2003a, p. 290)
0n the one hancl, a commttnal experience of
lesearch recluires that the intbrmation-gathering
and analytical processes of inqLriry be cotrmunal
in nature ancl opeu to participation among
r.neurbers oi the community that the research
intends to sel've. 0n the other hand, the commu-
nity of care encornpassed in the research experi-
ence also includes the audiences to research.
r\laking art is a passionale visceral activity that
crerrtes oppoltunitics for comrnunion atttong
participants, researchers, rnd the variotts aLtdi-
ences lvho encounter the reseat'ch text.Arts-based
research crosses the boLrnclaries of art attd
research as defined by conventions tbrmed in his-
torically, cultLrrally bounded contexts olthe inter-
nationalart market and in the knorvledge market
clominated by higher cducation.
It is important to acknotvledge here that both
art r'vith political purpose ancl social inquiry rvitir
artistic qualities have long and rich histories. In
the arts-bascd research exanrp[e, howevel rvhat is
protbunclly dift'erent and starkly political is the
686 r HANDBOOK 0F QUALITATIVE RESEARCH-CHAPTER 26

effort to claim that art is equal to-indeed, gender, socioeconomic status, and cultural char
sometimes even profoundly more appropriate history. Although these works are profoundly art
than-science as a way of understanding. Arts- personal accounts of "becoming" the people we reca
based research is one of many systemic studies of are, they are also commentaries on cultural his- with
phenomena undertaken to advance human under- tories and the texts that shaped and formed us. deel
standing-not exactly art and certainly not The concept of intertextuality goes a long way natir
science. As Slattery and Langerock (2002) stated, in explaining why culture and other social con- well
arts-based research takes place in "synthetical structions are always dynamic. ness
moments-experiences of profound insight that Aspects of intertextuality form the basis for arts-
merge time, space, and self in seamless transhis- arts-based inquiry. In the hyphen that connects artfi
torical moments [not] .. . easily discernible and "arts" and "based" is a textual reference to the Pos
not clearly categorized within the rigid disciplinary arts as a basis for something else, something that Eisn
boundaries" of art and science (p. 350). A primary is "not art." Connecting activist movements in and
concern for arts-based researchers is how to make art and research is one of the t'undamental acts ont
the best use of their hybrid, boundary-crossing of intertextual reading that forms the foundation ephe
approaches to inquiry to bring about culturally sit- for arts-based research. Among the particular expr
uated, political aesthetics that are responsive to skills of the arts-based researcher is the ability oPer
social dilemmas. The response has been to create to play or, perhaps more accurately, to construct (Bar,
and encourage open hermeneutic texts that cre- a field for play; there is a physical dimension to for t
ate spaces for dialogues that blur boundaries making something, a confluence of mind and voicr
among researchers, participants, and audiences so body applied in efforts to understand (see also the
that, ideally, roles reverse and participants lead Butler, 1997,1999; Finley,2001; Fox & Geichman, equa
researchers to new questions, audiences revert to 2001). For Richardson, this physical dimension abou
questioning practitioners, and so forth as all inter- to cognition implies a "kinesthetic balance" that
act within the text. In this instance, the text is moves the audience/reader to some kind of !!
w
defined in its broadest possible terms and invokes action (Richardson & Lockridge, 1998). Moving
e)
all of the actions in the world that can be "read." people to action can be the purpose of arts-
p(
Intertextuality refers to a kind of play (full- based research. The primary characteristics of
ness) between texts.One text plays with the next arts-based research provide a formula for a je
text; that is, the play of intertextuality is the radical, ethical, and revolutionary qualitative at
process of reading through which one text refers inquiry. m
to another text in the process of cultural produc- This genealogy of arts-based inquiry exists in ac
tion (Barthes, 197011974). Intertextuality in the identification of intertextual connections and
research display points to the more dynamic tensions (i.e., disconnections) among "new wave" In
aspects of cultural production. The meaning texts social science researchers and storytellers, poets, langt
of social science include all things that can be dancers, painters, weavers, dramatists, and film- ambi
read, can be interpreted, or are the referents to makers who have situated themselves and their resea
rvhich people make meanings about their world. lvork in dynamic and diverse postmodern social the p
Thus, personal identity is created within social structures. A postmodern rewriting of the story of tures
structures that are themselves "performance arts-based inquiry methodologies plays out in the r.r

texts" that play into ongoing and always changing discontinuous, discordant, and intertextual con- tinua
social and cultural constructions. For example, structions. That there is a shared urge to use their isak
Garoian (1999) and Finley (2001) have separately work to promote revolutionary social justice that heger
produced examples of collage-assemblage art- brings artists and social scientists into collective storie
works that are self-consciously autobiographical, discourse is just one such construction. deper
drawing into their representative forms textual As Barone (2001a) noted, arts-based inquiry (stor:
referents to social constructions such as ethnicity, evidences elements of design that are aesthetic in boun
r
Il
I
t character and that, lvith variation according to
iI art form, are "selected for their usefulness in
I recasting the contents of experience into a form
j rvith the potential for challenging (sometimes
t deeply held) beliefs and values" (p. 26). Imagi-
i
L nation, community, and communal experience, as
rvell as perceptual, emotional, and sensual aware-
ness, all contribute to the aesthetic dimensions of
arts-based research.In arts-based research, the
arttulness to be found in everyday living com-
poses the aesthetic (Barone, 2001a; Barone &
Eisner, 1997; Dewey, 1934/1958). Denzin (2000)
and others have encouraged researchers to focus
on the vernacular and to capture the visceral
ephemeral moments in daily life, Vernacular,
expressive, and contextualized language forms
open narratives that promote empathy and care
(Barone,2001b). These entreaties to the vernacular
for the purpose of broader audience/participant
voice, representation, and appeal, as lvell as
the phiiosophical appeal to regarding people
equallp recall Tolstoys (1946/1996) comments
about art:
We are accustomed to understand art to be only
rvhat ive hear and see in theaters, concerts, and
exhibitions, together with buildings, statues,
pocms, and novels. . . . [But] all human life is tllled
ivith rvorks of art o[ every kind-from cradlesong,
jest, mimicry, the ornamentation of houses, dress,
and utensils, to church services, building monu-
ments, and triumphal processions. It is all artistic
acrivity. (p.66)
In its use of everyday, localized, and personal
language, and in its reliance on texts that are
ambiguous and open to interpretation, arts-based
research draws people into dialogue and opens
the possibility for critical critique of social struc-
tures (Barone, 2001a, 2001b). Performativity is
the rvriting and rewriting of meanings that con-
tinually disrupts the authority oftexts. Resistance
is a kind of performance that holds up for critique
hegemonic texts that have become privileged
stories told and retold. All knowledge claims are
dependent on ascription rvithin porver structures
(stories) that are performed rvithin cultural
boundaries.
Finley: Arts-Based Inquiry g 687
This connection among political resistance,
pedagogy, and perfbrmance has ernerged as a way
of understanding, and it represents an arts-based
methodological approach for interpreting and
taking action (for a more comprehensive discus-
sion of the'dramaturgical turni' see Denzin,1997 ,
2003). Dramaturgy as a research form draws from
the rich history of politically motivated, activist
theater used to resist oppression, Garoian (1999)
argued that performances in this genre can be
usedto'tritique dominant cultural assumptions,
to construct identity, and to attain political
agency" (p. 2). Garoian defined the human body
as a 'tontested site" (p.23) where the activity of
the play enables culturally disenfranchised actors
to push against tradition, hegemony, and domi-
nant standpoints. With echoes of Felshin (1995),
Garoian drew on the feminist arts movement as a
site of activist performance art, particularly with
references to the
pertbrmance artist Suzanne
Lacy. Broadening his definition of performance as
pedagogy, Garoian observed,
ILacy's] art work is pertbrmative curriculum
because it opens a liminal space, within rvhich a
community can engage a critical discourse, a space
tvherein decisions are contingent upon the collec-
tive desires of its citizens, as lvell as an ephemeral
space because it is applicable to the particular time
and place for rvhich it has been designed. Thus, tbr
Lacy, communities are contested sites, and perfor-
mance art is a function of community develop-
ment. (p. 128)
The community aspects of Lacy's rvork are
accomplishedby the invoivement of diverse
communities of participants as experts and
actors examining their olvn oppression, where
expertise is defined by participants'lives in the
community. The participants in her work are
coresearchers, critiquing and challenging them-
selves to understand their community and to
overcome cultural oppressions that occur there.
Thus, art, politics, pedagogy, and inquiry are
brought together in perfbrmance.
In tracing the evolution of pertbrmance as
a primary site for revolutionary research method-
ology, Denzin (2003) explained,
 688 s HANDB00K 0F QUALITA|IVE RESEAIICH-CFIAPTER 26

Ethnography had to be taken out of a pLrrely performance pedagogy must move beyond the intt
methodological lramelork and located first within dialogical tasks of reframing, refunctioning, asi
a pertbrmative arena and then lvithin the spaces and reposing questions and fbrmulations of circ
of pedagogy, where it rvas understood that the knowledge that characterize critical pedagogy cho
pedagogical is alrvays political. lVe can now see that
in preference for action (p. B). Instead, the call mal
interpretive ethnography's subject matter is set by
to revolution is ethicai: "to make liberation and hov
a dialectical pedagogy. This pedagogy connects
the abolition of human suffering the goal of the pr0.
oppressors and the oppressed in capital's liminal,
educative enterprise" (p. 5), (
epiphanic spaces. (p. 31)
Revolutionary pedagogy, as described by the
Mclaren (1999, 2001, 2003), does the following: intc
The Turn to a Radical, Ethical,
con
and Revolutionary Arts-Based Inquiry
r Resists heterogeneity in discourses and repre- divi
With reibrence to writers rvho have advanced sentations of history, culture, and politics that ers
the notion of critical performance pedagogy, ignore the tensions and contradictions lived colc
such as Freire (197012001), Giroux (2000,2001), through raced and gendered difTerence I
Kincheloe and Mclaren (2000), Conquergood I Names and gives voice to nonparticipants in the
Thu
(1998), Garoian (1999), Pineau (1998), and Hill porver structures derived from world capitalism
dial
(1998), Denzin (2003) put fonvard a model of and colonialist practices
lnqr
pertbrmance ethnography "that moves fiom
r Contests various assaults on protections for the
som
poor, for women, and for people of color
interpretation and emotional evocation to praxis,
I Challenges the assumptions and ideologies and
empowerment, and social change" (p. 133). mar
enacted in schooling and attempts to refashion
This turn by Denzin (1999) to critical pertbr- a politics of education to the larger universal doir
mance delivered on his charge to critical ethno- values of social democracy anst
graphers that performative pedagogy is needed I Offers a provisional glimpse ol a new society find
to confront race relations and inequalities in the fieed from the bondage ofthe past be<
globalized capitalist democratic system. Denzin r Creates narrative spaces set against the subjec- mea
(2003) cxplained that, through an evolutionary titlcation of everyday experience and gives rise and
process, the field o[ ethnography has reached t0 an empowered rvay of being by recognizing ship
its current critical, performative pedagogical and naming, in an uncomprornising critique,
dym
moment; it is a point in time lvhen performative the everyday signitiers of porver and practices
S
ethnography can be enacted as critical social
of concealment that typically prevent self-
inch-
knorvledge and by discouraging naming the
practice. A critical performance pedagogy should narri
tensions and contradictions wrought by capital-
enabie oppressed persons to "unveil the world of tlon,
ist colonialist practices
oppression and through praxis commit them- r Directly conlronts differentiated totalities of con- ical
selves to its transtbrmation" (Freire, 197012001, temporary society and their historical imbri- socie
p. 54, cited in Denzin,2003, p.30). cations in the world system olglobal capitalism exan
It is a shift in perspective and a call to action by engagement in revolutionary transformation It
demanded by the cultural, social, and govern- (conceived as an opposition to social justice madr
mentaiepoch in rvhich we live.As lvlclaren (2003) retbrms) rend,
stated, there is renerved intensity in pleas to take orde
reformative action today in the face of globalized From a po.stmodern perspective, Ulmer (1994) amel
oppression and repressive political structures. similarly argued for a revolutionary pedagogy rvithi
These 'dark times" as Mclaren (1999) called that makes its task the transformation oI institu- the tr
them, demand that practitioners and theorists tions by using the formalizing structures of the of pu
rvho base their lvork in an ethics of care and institution itseif to experimentally rearrange and :

sociai responsibility rvill take critical pedagogy reality for critical effect. He cited Eco ( 1984, p.409) I999,
to the heights of political action. Revolutionary to make his case tbr engaging in "revolutionary" are cr

interventionist works that entertain the possibility,
as in an ideal'guerilla" semiotics, of 'thanging the
circumstances by virtue of which the receivers
choose their own codes of reading. . . . This prag-
matic energy of semiotic consciousness shows
holv a descriptive discipline can also be an active
project" (Ulmer, 1994, p. 86).
Social crisis suggests that the next phase in
the development of arts-based research will bring
into tbcus the potential fbr arts-based inquiry to
confront postmodern political issues such as
diversity and globalization and for its practition-
ers to implement critical race, queer, and post-
colonial epistemologies.
In performance, the emphasis is on doing.
Thus, perfbrmance creates a specialized (open and
dialogic) space that is simultaneously asserted fbr
inquiry and expression. Performance requires
some sort of imaginative interpretation of events
and the contexts of their occurrences. A perfor-
mance text redirects attention to the process of
doing research rather than looking for truth,
answers, and expert knowledge in a final report of
findings fiom the researcher. "Open texts cannot
be decontextualized; their (now unpredictable)
meanings emerge within the sociology of space
and are connected within the reciprocal relation-
ships that exist between people and the political,
dynamic qualities of place" (Finley, 2003a, p. 288).
Such performances are possible in any art form,
including visual arts, music, dance, poetry, and
narrative. In posing questions, analyzing informa-
tion, rnaking discoveries, and/or engaging in polit-
ical action, the performative text is a politically,
socially, and contextually grounded rvork (in the
example of music, see Daspit, 2000; Frith, 1996).
It is in this liminal space that distinctions are
made betlveen private and public spheres, thereby
rendering personai identity, culture, and social
order unstable, indeterminate, inchoate, and
amenable to change. Giroux (1995) argued, "lt is
rvithin the tension betlveen what might be called
the trauma of identity formation and the demands
of public iifb that cultural rvork is both theorized
and made performative" (p. 5, cited in Garoian,
1999, pp.40-41). From rvithin the openings that
are created by arts research, people-just ordinary
Finley: Arts-Based Inquiry 6 689
people, you and me, researchers as participants
as audiences-can irnplement new visions of
dignity, care, democracy, and other postcolonial
ways of being in the rvorld.
E[ Anrs-Besrl hqQurnv,qs"GurRRnrl
MRFRRS": TerrNc B,qcr rHn Srnslrs
Denzin (1999) urged a new movement in qualita-
tive inquiry in rvhich researchers take up their pens
(and their cameras, paintbrushes, bodies, and
voices) so that lve might'tonduct our oln ground-
level guerrilla warfare against the oppressive
structures of our everyday lives" (pp, 568,572).
Following Freire (197012001 ; see also discussion of
this point in Denzin,2003), there are two primary
tasks that are the specific aims of human social
inquiry in the context ofa revolutionary arts-based
pedagogy: (a) to unveil oppression and (b) to
transform praxis. What follows is a discussion of
those two tasks and an example of radical, ethical,
and revolutionary arts-based inquiry. This inquiry
has taken place (and is continuing) among various
diverse communities of economically poor children
and their families (both sheltered and unshel-
tered), street youths (unaccompanied minors, run-
away and throwaway children, travelers, and other
people betrveen 17 and 24 years of age who live
on the streets), and tent communities where
unhoused people govern their own lives. It also
includes the experience of field-based, community-
centered research among college students, teachers,
shelter workers, and other social services providers
as rvell as the community more broadly. The
discourse community is intentionally broad so
as to involve as many individuals and role repre-
sentatives as I can dralv into dialogue, critical
critique, inquiry, and social action around issues
of poverty and homeiessness as they influence the
educational lives and experiences of children,
youths, and adults. (For examples, see Finiey,
2000a,2000b,2003b; Finley & Finley, 1999. For a
discussion of
Finley, 2000a, as participatory
performance inquiry, see Denzin, 2003. For an
adaptation into a stage performance of these
and other research publications in this line of
690 n HANDB00K 0F QUALITATIVE RESEARCH-CHAPTER 26

social research, see Saldaia, Finley, & Finley, in and their parents back toward the system of syn
press. For discussions of ethnomethodology, see sustained poverty that subverts them. lhe goal is bru
Saldafla, 1999,2003.) tbr the children to embrace their understandings anc
of themselves and society in terms of political rou
struggle and, in so doing, to encourage them to 90
"Mystory" Pe rfo r m an ces
imagine all that they can do and be in their chil
With the intention of empowering children lives-and to dispute what might seem to be a anc
living in shelter and transitional housing to destiny of lifelong poverty. My task is to provide sesl
become active learners in classrooms, the At Home tools for constructing new autobiographical ofc
At School (AHAS) program that I organize brings images and then to encourage ongoing practices ject
together K-8 (kindergarten through eighth grade) that these children and their families might use oft
children, their families, and preservice and inser- to transfbrm their lives. the:
vice teachers in a field-based community project. Equally important is my goal of providing tools low
All of us are students; we are both the researchers for K-12 educators to recognize that their own mei
and the researched lbliowing an arts-based compliance with a system that degrades and disen- ing
inquiry model of new paradigm human studies. franchises these children leaves "blood on their strr
Children experience arts-based literacy instruc- handsl'The goal is to encourage them to find ways 1

tion (broadly conceived) throughout the school in which to assist students toward newly fbrmed Pea
year during after-school educational enrichment life stories built on the notion of a caring commu- c0n
and in an intensive 6-week summer school pro- nity that includes educators who, while part of the prat
gram. Doing drama, literature, visual arts, garden- system, will use the system in its own transforma- blat
ing, and computer technology are the mainstays of tion. Because art is a visceral and personal experi- lonl
the children's program. Teachers learn tirsthand ence that gives expression to affective ways ofbeing boy
what it means tbr children to live in a shelter or and knowing, I introduce arts-based inquiry in wh
temporary apartment, they experience the encum- this curriculum as a way for the children and their tion
brances of poverty to education more closely than teachers to create their own "mystories." Mystory phv
most have experienced previously, and they learn performances are personal cultural texts (e.g., nar- stor
methods tbr integrating arts across the disciplines. ratives, paintings, poetry, music) that contextualize teac
Children in this setting have experienced the crim- important personal experiences and problems 0cci
inalization of homelessness in America, marginal- within the institutional settings and historical Per.
ization in schools, and disrupted lives in changing moments where their authors (e.g., painters, col- und
homes and schools as they and their families search lagists, dramatists) find themselves. They attempt hel
for alfordable housing. 0f course, some are further to make sense of seemingly senseless moments in witl
inured to the vagaries of addictions, imprisonments life, to capture fiustrations and turmoil and open and
of parents and siblings, and other social manifesta- them for critical critique. They open a liminal irP
tions of poverty in a minimum-wage economy. space, and create an open and dialogic text, where I
While enrolled in AHAS, children who reside a diverse group ofpeople can be brought to collec- as(
in shelter and transitionalhousing live in a system tive understanding of the sites of power, of conflicts lvall
that regulates their time-with rules for when between the empowered and the powerless, and tion
they can bathe, sieep, eat, and so forth-simply from this point of understanding can begin to coul
because of their status as unhoused (longtime or address the need for social change (for further dis- had
recently) and economically poor persons. cussions of the functions of mystory, see Denzin, stor
Variously, in addition to strengthening acade- 2003; Ulmer,1989). divo
mic performance as a means to build selt-esteem, Teacher-led projects in which children have resu
my goal rvith the children who attend AHAS is to created mystories that have taken place in the necl
drarv their attention to the relationship between context of AHAS include an extended effort at poir
themselves and society so as to help them redirect portraiture during which children painted their the r

the anger that they sometimes feel at themselves life histories first by learning to work rvithin the vers

symbolic language of colors, lines, and space and
brush work rvhile rvorking rvith charcoal, pens,
I and lvater and acrylic paints. Over a period of
I
I
roughly 3 months (shelter stays are limited to
{ 90 days, so there was a changing population of
j
children, with some attending all of the sessions
and some attending only a f'erv), during weekly
sessions children painted 5glf-portraits, pictures
of objects, and so forth to tell lit-e stories. The pro-
ject culminated with a day of communal painting
of five mural panels (4 feet by 4 feet) rvith the
theme of "the story of us." Again, the children fol-
lowed up the session by verbally processing the
meanings they intended when they began paint-
ing and by defining the meanings they con-
structed during the process.
Amid likenesses of "Sponge Bob," trees,
peace symbols, and American flags, personal and
community stories emerged. One child rvho had
practiced and then painted a very pleasing tree
blacked it out rvith other paint so that it was no
longer even visible on the canvas, and tlvo other
boys joined him in his "scorched earth" efforts.
lVhen the child expressed his anger and tiustra-
tion rvith multiple heart surgeries that lett him
physically smaller than his peers-a personal
story, but one that had community ties-his
teachers were better prepared to understand his
occasional displays of seemingly unfounded tem-
per.'Ielling his life story, he found compassion and
understanding among his peers and teachers, and
he began to attend tutoring sessions each rveek
rvith absolute regularity, had ferver outbursts,
and began (over a period of several months) to
improve his school pertbrmance.
In this same setting, three girls had painted
a scene in rvhich two (gender-neutral) couples
rvalked among trees and t'lowers. On close inspec-
tion, one couple held hands while the other
couple did not, and the couple not holding hands
had tears florving from their eyes. These girls'
storytelling turned to personal remembrances of
divorce, of grandparents left in other states as a
result of moves, and of feelings of being discon-
nected from peers when at school. From that
point, beginning rvith the girls who had painted
the scene but also involving other children, a con-
versation grew about loving their own mothers
Finley:Arts-Based Inquiry g 691
but wanting to build lasting relationships in their
olvn lives. Because the scene took a mural space
very close to a U.S. 1lag, next to which another
student had written "give peace a chance" and
several had drawn peace signs, conversation
shifted again, now having moved from the realm
of personal experiences of divorce and separation,
to a discussion of world instability and U.S. domi-
nance, and the instability to children's lives intro-
duced by war. Nothing was resolved-there lvere
disagreements as to whether the United States was
right or wrong to go to war-but most important
was that there was a conversation about the war at
all; children were expressing their opinions about
lvorld events and rvere confident that their ideas
mattered. I could not help but think that students'
understandings rvrought by telling mystories
would carry ovel at least in minimallvays, to life at
school.
Painted portraits are just one way for the
chilciren to tell "the story of us." We also have had
occasions for rnovie making, writing, and per-
forming rap and blues, and rve have constructed a
community in which personal storytelling is
rewarded. Against this backdrop of unveiling
personal and systemic events that have shaped
the lives of the children, trvo events that have
occurred convince me that we are achieving
transformative praxis in AHAS.
First, a rule prohibited people living in the shel-
ter from fiaternizing with people living in transi-
tional housing by going back and forth to each
other's places of residence. Two l2-year-old
girls-one rvho iived in a transitional housing
apartment and the other who was housed at the
shelter-became very close fiiends during tutor-
ing. While the girls rvere making plans to visit one
another after the program at the apartment of one
of the girls, another student reminded them of the
rule and that if it rvere entbrced, the girls' families
rvould be asked to leave. This rvas fbllowed by a
discussion among the children in which they rec-
ognized horv unfair the situation rvas. They
decided that they had to do sornething about it.
Their solution was to lvrite in their journals about
the situation and then to show me rvhat they had
written and enlist my help in challenging the rule.
They disputed the systcm, and they took action to
692 q HANDBO0K OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH-CHi\PTER 26
try and change the rule. In the end, because of
their problem soiving, the rule was changed.
Second, the painted murals were hung, along
with excerpts from the narrative sessions, in the
gallery of the Student Services building at the uni-
versity where I teach. I took a class of I I practicing
teachers (who were enrolled in my advanced
childrent literature course) to see the display. 0f
these I I teachers,5 began volunteer tutoring on a
lveekly basis and several carried over beyond the
end of the semester. In addition, they conducted
book drives at their schools so that every child
could take a book home with him or her. Most
important, all of the teachers made statements
similar to this comment offered by one:
I have always had these children in my classes, and
I have ahvays resented them being there. I have seen
them as unprepared, Ias] underparented, and as a
waste of my time. I have changed. I'm a good
teacher to a lot of the children. My goal now is-
truly, not just as mere rhetoric-to become a
teacher of nll of the children in my classroom.
These children are now my children.
In sum, although the painting of the portraits
atfected these children's perceptions of them-
selves as learners and in both their current and
future participation in society, what is perhaps
more profound is the impact that the children
have had, through their paintings and stories, on
other children in similar circumstances who will
attend classes taught by the teachers and preser-
vice teachers who have adopted activist pedago-
gies and practices.
As an educator, I want to encourage children to
learn early to become lifelong activists who are
equipped for guerrilla warfare against oppression
by virtue of their ability to name their oppressors,
dispute oppressive practices that are stereotyped
or systematized into seeming normalitS imagine
a life lived otherwise, and then construct and
enact a script that shifts them into an alternative
space. Art, in any of its various forms, provides
media for self-retlection, self-expression, and
communication between and among creators and
audiences. Perfbrming social change begins rvith
arttul ways of seeing and knowing ourselves and
the rvorld in which lve live.
'IheAHAS example demonstrates that art can be rep
the catalyst for audiences to see themselves ditfer- res,
ently, to receive messages, and to find a level of wh
understanding about people that they would have an(
ignored in different circumstances. Knowing these feS,
children through their artful expressions of them- POI
selves motivated a group of adults to embrace their har
empathetic emotions and to give something of their artl
time and expertise as teachers,Yet once theywere in bas
direct contact with the artists, the teachers became esti
students ofthe social structures they helped to per- an(
petuate and began to lvrite small scripts based on log
the need for change, with book drives and gifts of Pos
books being the foundation for change in the emo- con
tional and physical spaces in which teaching and shu
learning occur in their schools and classrooms. For exp
the teachers, it takes a sustained effort at learning to hav
use the tools that are available to create and revise toe
their own self-portraits; practice is required. Artful acti
perfbrmance in the community rvill occur if thrr
teachers look deeply enough into themselves and t'aci
can paint their way to a more humanistic and com- nist
munal portraiture than schools typically allow. anc
In these examples, the children have become wor
researchers and artists of their own lives. 0ther
examples, not given here because of space consid-
erations, rvould demonstrate the arts-based tr
inquiry that teachers have experienced in this
Barr
context. Still another group of examples would be
my own inquiries into the experiences of AHAS,
some of rvhich have been coauthored and copre-
Bar
sented with K-12 students, teachers, street
youths, and street artists. In this schema, arts-
based research makes possible the erasure of Barr
distinctions between the researcher and the
researched. We all are inquirers into our experi-
ences and collaborators in efforts to create a
better space to share our lives. Barl
A major dilemma tbr arts-based researchers has
Butl
emerged around definitions of quality criteria.
What is good arts-based research? Is it incumbent
Butl
on arts-based research to demonstrate the best in
terms of artistic skill and craftsmanship? And, if Casr
demonstrations of artistic skill are necessary to
arts-based research, can quality arts-based inquiry
be achieved by community-members (e.g., children Con
and teachers, as well as university researchers) who
are not educatcd in the art-form chosen as the

representational text? How tar can arts-based
researrchers go in becoming'tommunity partners"
rvhere distinctions betleen the roles of researcher
and researched converge? Who is an artist? Who is a
researcher? These are questions that underscore the
postmodern turn in sociological research, but they
have become somewhat polarizing issues among
arts-based researchers. Some practitioners of arts-
based inquiry argue for the need to develop an
established research tradition that has coherence
and integrity in its methodological and epistemo-
logical commitments, rvhereas others take the
position I have taken in this chapter-that quality
control eitbrts fbrce a singular way of knowing and
shut off the possibilities for diverse voices and
expressions. Performativity is the quality criterion I
have emphasized in this chapter as being necessary
to achieve arts-based approaches to inquiry that is
activist, engages in public criticism, is resistant to
threats to social justice, and purposefully intends to
tacilitate critical race, indigenous, queer, and t-emi-
nist and border studies as entrde to multiple, nerv,
and diverse ways of understanding and living in the
rvorld.
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