A/R/Tography: Rendering Self Through Arts-Based Living Inquiry

by Rita L. Irwin (Editor), Alex De Cosson (Editor), William F. Pinar (Foreword)

"A/r/tography is a form of representation that privileges both text and image as they meet within moments of métissage. But most of all, a/r/tography is about each of us living a life of deep meaning enhanced through perceptual practices that reveal what was once hidden, create what has never been know, and imagine what we hope to achieve."

In this fascinating volume, the twelve contributors explore the relationships beween the roles of artist, researcher, and teacher as they implement arts-based educational research. Each contributor uses her or his own artistic practices as integral or complementary practices to other forms of inquiry. In each case, the artist-author examines an educational issue and through visual and textual means, pursues theoretical and practical considerations. In these explorations, analysis and interpretation confront our assumptions, bringing them to a place of intersubjective and intrasubjective knowing. Each artist-author engages with theory and practice, art and text, self and other, artist and teacher. In many respects, two points of view are explored: art as phenomenon and art-making as method. Using these points separately or together, the artist-authors explore the fullness of such inquiry for educational research. Through an examination of these art-based texts, readers will come to appreciate educational practices in deeper and more meaningful ways.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Peaches · Rating 3 out of 5]

For 2004, this book was likely ambitious and intended to open readers up to these concepts. Reading it 14 years later, I found it lacking at times. Now that we are in the era of Common Core and standards-based grading, there really needs to be more about how teachers use a/r/tography in the classroom as creative ways to still meet expectations. Sadly, students "finding themselves" are not seen as important as the content-area skills needed to pass the class and move on (at least at the k-12 level). Even though this book came out in a different time, rubrics of explanations of how activities fit into the "bigger picture" of units would be helpful. Evidently, this book just needs an update. There was also little mention of expressive arts, which overlaps with a/r/tography.
I enjoyed the overall discussion of a/r/tography in general, as I plan to use it for my dissertation. In other texts that I've read, writers do not take the time to explain the acronym and other relevant terminology such as the "third space." This text is absolutely needed if you're interested in engaging in a/r/tography, but the essays on practice are hit-or-miss (and, as stated before, dated for an old curriculum movement).
Something random that I appreciated was the explanation of the cover art, created by one of the researchers to represent the borderlands-the in-between that a/r/tography allows for.

[churrosconclipper · Rating 5 out of 5]

este librito me ha puesto nombre a una forma de estar en el mundo que ya practicaba sin saberlo.
A/r/tography no es solo una metodología, es una forma de habitar los cruces: entre hacer, enseñar y pensar; entre arte, pedagogía e investigación. es una invitación a dejar de entender estas áreas como compartimentos estancos y empezar a vivirlas como un todo interconectado y abierto.
la idea de la a/r/tografía como métissage -como entrecruce, como mezcla no resuelta ni rígida- me parece tan potente como necesaria. rechaza los binarismos, no busca verdades fijas ni jerarquías de conocimiento sino que propone un pensamiento dialógico, en movimiento. vivir como artista/docente/investigadore no es asumir múltiples roles sino habitar el umbral, ese "thirdness" que genera experiencias estéticas y vivas, que no buscan transmitir hechos, sino sentido.
me quedo con muchas ideas, pero sobre todo con una certeza: que hacer arte, investigar y enseñar no son prácticas separadas, sino partes de una misma búsqueda. una forma de pensar con el cuerpo, de conocer desde la experiencia, de compartir desde lo vivido. y que en esa mezcla, lejos de perder rigor, ganamos profundidad.
como dice dpringgay en el segundo capítulo: si el cuerpo es fragmento, también es frontera móvil. y ahí es donde está la potencia, porque pensar desde el cuerpo, desde la incertidumbre, es también desafiar las formas tradicionales de conocimiento académico, abrirle la puerta a lo sensible, a lo ambiguo, a lo afectivo... a lo que verdaderamente importa.

[Derek Fenner · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my dissertation, I'm considering adapting Irwin's A/R/Togrpahy methodology to utilize in a Youth Participatory Action Research model. The contributors in this book offer a wealth of relevant info for my work. I'd suggest it to teaching artists, art educators, or any educator interested in student-centered, inquiry-based, and/or connected curriculum.