Exploring Significant Events in an Inaugural Arts-Based Research Class through Interactional Ethnographic Perspectives

While scholarship describing arts-based research (ABR) has gained momentum, few studies have explored formal classes in ABR, such as within graduate coursework. In this presentation, we, a professor of a newly formed arts-based research doctoral course and a research assistant/student in the class, share how we employed interactional ethnographic perspectives as an orienting guide for constructing new ways of knowing. Using poetry, narrative, and ethnographic timelines to creatively transform and analyze our data, we explored the culture of the class through students’ and our own behavior, poetry, language, music, art, etc. and observe and accurately represent social phenomena constructed moment-to-moment and over time. Adhering to the belief that ethnographic research requires transparency, we clearly divulge our research methods, including data collection, handling ethical dilemmas, and bracketing ourselves as we sought to understand how individual student’s actions, interactions among students, and our own positions and reactions contributed to the climate, culture, and dynamics of the class.