Finding CreativeVoice: Applying Arts-Based Research in the Context of Biodiversity Conservation

Flor Rivera Lopez, Fern Wickson and Vera Helene Hausner
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Flor Rivera Lopez: GenØk Center for Biosafety, Siva Innovasjonssenter, PB 6418, 9294 Tromsø, Norway
Fern Wickson: GenØk Center for Biosafety, Siva Innovasjonssenter, PB 6418, 9294 Tromsø, Norway
Vera Helene Hausner: Arctic Sustainability Lab, AMB, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, PB 6050 Langnes, 9037 Tromsø, Norway

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 6, 1-18

Abstract: The integration of creative arts–based methods into scientific research offers a host of advantages, including the ability to capture the complex texture of lived experience, explore interconnections between nature and culture, support nonhierarchical relations, and communicate insights in engaging and empowering new ways. In this article, we describe a new method—CreativeVoice—integrating the creative arts and qualitative research, which we developed and applied in a context of pursuing community-based conservation of agricultural biodiversity. We developed CreativeVoice as an integrative method to help us understand the local contexts, cultures, and perspectives from community members of different ages and genders, in two contrasting farming communities in Oaxaca, Mexico. CreativeVoice effectively adapts and extends the Photovoice method so as to retain its benefits but address some of its limitations. This includes allowing participants to choose a genre of artistic expression connected to their own specific individual or cultural contexts and providing the capacity to move beyond capturing present-day realities to directly bring in connections to the past and visions for the future. This article describes both the CreativeVoice approach and the significant value of integrating arts-based methods into research for advancing sustainability.

Keywords: art-based; photovoice; participatory methods; community-based research; biocultural; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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