Centre for Qualitative Research : Masterclasses 2008

Masterclass 2: Writing Performative Ethnography

Kimberly Dark, 31st March & 1st April 2008

What can participants expect:

• An opportunity to hear and discuss examples of social science performance
• An opportunity to explore different types of writing for performance
• Time to write, read and listen in small, supportive peer groups and with professional mentoring
• Take-home activities through which to grow the seeds of the writing begun in the workshop

What will they get out of participating:

• A sense of what writing and performative "practice" can do for the researcher
• A sense of how writing and performance can help audiences connect with social science research in personal ways that prompt further discussion and sometimes even action!
• A set of tools for stimulating their own social science creative writing practice
• A set of tools for sharing work orally with grace and ease (basic performance skills, really)
• A beginning to three or four pieces of creative performative social science writing that can be further developed at a later time.
• Experience reading for others

How this will be accomplished over the two days:

• Seeing samples of social science performance and creative writing
• Discussing views on writing as a practice in social science, methods of reaching audiences, and ways of presenting creative social science writing
• Writing practice in various forms
• Sharing excerpts from the work in small groups
• Performing a culminating five minute creation

Kimberly Dark

American Kimberly Dark continues to work tirelessly on her abilities as a parent, poet, professor and raconteur. Kimberly's writing and performances have delighted and incited audiences at theatres and universities across North America and Europe for the past ten years. Her frequent themes are gender, sexuality, poverty, privilege, parenting and education. Her work blends humour, poetry, story-telling, education and social research in order to stimulate both social analysis and action.

Please forward all enquiries to:

Stacey Mitchell,
Centre for Qualitative Research, Bournemouth University,
HSC, Royal London House,
Christchurch Road,
Bournemouth,
BH1 3LT,
UK

Tel: (01202) 962763
Fax: (01202) 962194
Email: cqr@bournemouth.ac.uk