In the last decades, arts-based research has become increasingly present as a form of inquiry beyond the realm of art institutions. Academic funds have added programs for arts-based research and scholars of anthropology, sociology, environmental and economic research, to name a few, have made use of this approach to explore new perspectives in their fields (eg.: Rodriguez-Labajos et al. 2021; Stoller 1997).

Also from a theoretical perspective, philosophers and researchers in the social sciences have emphasized the need to integrate the arts to produce knowledge that can respond to the complex realities we experience (eg. Haraway 2016). Decolonial and feminist approaches alike have critiqued the notion of doing research, particularly of doing philosophy, as an activity that (should) happen(s) only in mental, rational, intellectual, disembodied or verbalized forms. In a world where being able to engage with diversity has become a major challenge, advocates of arts-based research propose to ground research and reflection practices in the understanding that life and experiences of the world are multifaceted. In this vein, “art offers ways of knowing the world that involve sensory perceptions and emotion as well as intellectual responses” (Greenwood 2019).

Despite the strong tendency to work in multimodal and multisensorial forms in related fields, socio-legal studies, including legal philosophy, have remained quite indifferent to this development.

We will explore this issue in two steps:
1. by working ourselves with an arts-based method, concretely collage-making (while other arts can be integrated during the workshop, like drawing, poetry, etc.)

2. by exchanging and reflecting on our experiences during the workshop process, and relating them to our usual research processes as well as to arts-based research in nonlegal environments

In order to explore arts-based research, participants can

•bring a research topic of their own, which they want to explore further with arts-based research, or

•utilize the research topic of ‘human dignity’ for this exploratory workshop, as an issue that is easily linkable to the different subfields of legal and social philosophy.
Furthermore, ‘human dignity’ has been addressed already using arts-based research in other academic settings (AIBR 2023, UIAES-WAU World Congress 2023), allowing for an interdisciplinary reflection.
Participants need no previous experience or knowledge. They are invited to bring material of their choice to work on the collages.
Room requirements: a flexible arrangement of tables and chairs; preferably speakers. Materials needed: Sheets of paper (A1, A2 size; white), colour pencils and pens, glue, scissors and tape; if possible, magazines and visual material.

References Greenwood, J. (2019, February 25). Arts-Based Research. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. Retrieved 26 Jan. 2024, from https://oxfordre.com/education/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/ acrefore9780190264093-e-29. Haraway, D. (2016). Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press. Pink S. (2009). Doing sensory ethnography. SAGE. Rodriguez-Labajos, B.; Saavedra-Diaz, L. M.; Botto-Barrios, D. (2021). Filmmaking as a source of enhanced knowledge and transformation in conflicts over small-scale fisheries: the case of Colombia. Ecology and Society. 26-2. Stoller, P. (1997). Sensuous Scholarship. University of Pennsylvania Press.