Seeking Refuge in South Africa: Navigating Power, Healing, and Co‐Creation in Body‐Mapping Processes

Syeda Sidra Idrees, Karin Hannes and Marisa de Andrade
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Syeda Sidra Idrees: School of Health in Social Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, UK / Faculty of Social Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
Karin Hannes: Faculty of Social Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
Marisa de Andrade: School of Health in Social Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, UK

Social Inclusion, 2024, vol. 12

Abstract: This article refines the participatory body‐mapping process drawing insights from a preparatory workshop in South Africa, the country of origin of the method. Widely used in trauma‐informed research, body‐mapping as an art‐based method enables participants to express embodied experiences through non‐verbal storytelling. Responding to critiques of its cultural appropriation by the Global North, we engaged with scholars working with marginalised populations and/or in challenging research contexts to reflect on this participatory methodology. This article details their insights on how to conduct body‐mapping research as a contextually grounded tool and sensitive to marginalised populations. The article reconstitutes body‐mapping as a relational and dynamic method where bodies, spaces, and emotions interact to co‐create knowledge. This process reshapes power dynamics between researchers and participants, transforming body‐mapping into a collective space for healing and resistance. Rooted in the South African context, the research honours the method’s origins while actively exploring ethical ways to expand its potential for future use in forced migration research.

Keywords: arts‐based research; asylum‐seeking young girls; body mapping; co‐creation; migration; participatory art‐based research; power dynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:socinc:v12:y:2024:a:9013

DOI: 10.17645/si.9013

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