Methodology
To support our clients’ move toward resolution we offer consultation in research and education. Sustained personalized consultation equipps clients with research and facilitation skills as well as production materials to replicate and adapt the artistic experiences with their communities.
Research & Education
Our adaptive methodology guides people to translate social theory of nonviolence in their own words and preferred language. Through reflecting on how the theory connects to their own experiences, our consultation incorporates clients’ translation of theory into written and physical movement. Together, we co-create a way to integrate the combination of verbal and nonverbal translations of theory into activities.
We rehearse, test, and apply these activities during simulations. Once we discover which technique creates the most impact, we document the process and outline actionable steps to advance the clients’ needs and values. We define the approach to a personalized technique which is practice of nonviolence that can be activated in daily life.
Clients will be guided through autoethnographic training so they can reflect on what they experience, how they experience it, and to what extent their experience is similar and different from that of other participants. Autoethnography helps us recognize power relations that perpetuate inequalities. Autoethnographic approaches to research, writing, and performance seek to describe and systematically analyze personal experience to understand cultural experience.
Engaging in research on oneself while thinking critically about social norms generates a new set of relations, possibilities, and future encounters with multiple cultural identities. Autoethnography challenges traditional ways of conducting research and representing others’ cultural identities. It treats research as a political, socially just, and socially conscious act.
Example of Our Research Methodology
We begin with a somatic activity to generate focus, awareness, and attention. During the activity below, participants were asked to “let go of thinking of their body as a unit”.
Here is an example of what a few participants created.
Here is an excerpt from a research session. Participants reflected on ways the methodology and practice connects to activating nonviolence.
Significant Change:
Assessing Levels of Confidence,
Connection, & Transformation
Our approach to assessing significant change during the artistic experiences supports clients’ move toward resolution after the 1:1 performance facilitation and collaborative events. To determine how mutual understanding and trust was formed, monitoring and evaluation specialist will assess to what extent the interventions created transcultural understanding, trust, and emotional relief on a scale ranging from very comfortable to very uncomfortable. It will also assess the level of connection enacted through body language, vocalization, and interaction during group formation during activities ranging from strong interconnectedness to extreme division.
Clients are also invited to create their own criteria for self-assessment and group evaluation. In addition to these assessment a survey will be sent to all participants after each phase. With our clients’ consent, we incorporate qualitative and quantitative assessments into a report to improve public policy making and social justice advocacy.