TY - JOUR
T1 - To write or not to write? The contested nature and role of writing in arts practice research
AU - Phelan, Helen
AU - Nunan, Mary
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Journal of Research Practice and the authors.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - One of the most contested areas of arts practice research concerns the nature and role of writing. For many artist-scholars, research predicated on artistic practice does not require written contextualization. For those who engage in writing, questions as to the nature, mode, register, and purpose of writing abound. The growing body of publications addressing this question illustrates two broad responses. On the one hand, the ethnographic tradition attempts to capture phenomenological aspects of the artistic and reflexive experience. On the other, writing itself is approached as an integral part (a generative strand) of an artist’s creative process. In this article, the development of arts practice research at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, Ireland is reviewed and it serves as a point of departure to discuss an engagement with writing that invites a dialogue between ethnographic and generative approaches, the balance of which is ultimately decided by the research question, and the approach taken to answer the question.
AB - One of the most contested areas of arts practice research concerns the nature and role of writing. For many artist-scholars, research predicated on artistic practice does not require written contextualization. For those who engage in writing, questions as to the nature, mode, register, and purpose of writing abound. The growing body of publications addressing this question illustrates two broad responses. On the one hand, the ethnographic tradition attempts to capture phenomenological aspects of the artistic and reflexive experience. On the other, writing itself is approached as an integral part (a generative strand) of an artist’s creative process. In this article, the development of arts practice research at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, Ireland is reviewed and it serves as a point of departure to discuss an engagement with writing that invites a dialogue between ethnographic and generative approaches, the balance of which is ultimately decided by the research question, and the approach taken to answer the question.
KW - Arts practice research
KW - Autoethnography
KW - Creative writing
KW - Epistemic practice
KW - Narrative inquiry
KW - Practice-based research
KW - Reflexive journaling
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85064088304&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85064088304
VL - 14
JO - Journal of Research Practice
JF - Journal of Research Practice
IS - 2
M1 - M3
ER -