On Tuesday, May 10, from 12-1:30 PM, Dr. Katie Mah will present in CQ’s latest online seminar. There will be a 1-hour presentation and moderated discussion, followed by a 30-minute informal chat with the presenters. The Zoom link to join the seminar will be emailed to participants on the morning of the presentation.
A recording of this seminar can be found on our YouTube channel.
Title: Can we stop calling it ‘cute?’: Theorizing drawing as method in critical qualitative health research
Abstract: In health and rehabilitation research, drawing is adopted as method for reasons of participation, innovation, accessibility and, in the case of young people, child-friendliness. In this session, I reflect on what is lost when drawing as method is conceptualized in such limited terms, and what is gained when theory is brought into the picture. In this presentation, I introduce the critical arts-based research methodology I developed as I theorized drawing as method in my PhD dissertation. This work is grounded in the later work of Michel Foucault (1926 1984) concerning discourse, power/knowledge and the subject, builds on Gillian Rose’s theorizations of visual research methods, and extends Marilys Guillemin’s empirical work with drawings. Using my research with young people ‘at risk’ of and living with concussion as an exemplar, I demonstrate how engaging theory enabled me to shift my understanding of drawing as method over time, while enabling the co-production of a more nuanced and complex understanding of youth concussion.
Dr. Katie Mah is a Postdoctoral Associate in the School of Occupational Therapy at Western University. She is the recipient of the 2020-2021 Joan Eakin Award for Methodological Excellence in a Qualitative Doctoral Dissertation. Read more about Dr. Mah’s award-winning work here.
