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Engaging Ethics in Engaged Research: An Interactive Workshop at BAAS Conference 2025 - British Association for American Studies

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Engaging Ethics in Engaged Research: An Interactive Workshop at BAAS Conference 2025

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Pre-registration required. 20 places available. Book your place here 

Workshop Organisers:  Kate Dossett and Nick Grant 

Workshop Facilitators: JMC Anderson and Nadia Joseph 

When: Conference Day 2: Thursday 24 April 11.30-13.00 (Session 5). 

This 90-minute interactive workshop is facilitated by JMC Anderson and Nadia Joseph,  creative and heritage practitioners with experience of working with academic researchers.  Together we will explore what works, what goes wrong and what we need to learn to do better when designing and carrying out ethical engaged research.    

Who is it for: 

The workshop is open to everyone but will be of particular value to researchers interested in:   

  • developing collaborative projects and partnerships with artists and cultural institutions such as galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) 
  • developing research methodologies to foster knowledge equity 
  • reflecting on previous experiences of developing partnerships   

What will it cover: 

The themes of the workshop will be informed by suggestions from conference delegates who will pre-register for the workshop.  These might include:    

  • how to embed emotional support for everyone involved in projects researching emotionally difficult and traumatizing events 
  • how to engage ethical questions of other people’s time and money within the constraints of funding opportunities   
  • how to navigate the priorities/interests of the higher education sector when engaging with social and cultural partners. 

 You can suggest themes and topics as well as register to attend by filling out the registration form here 

 How it will work: 

 This 90-minute interactive workshop is led by creative and heritage practitioners with experience of working with academic researchers and communities.  The workshop comprises two parts: a 30 minute panel discussion where practitioners will discuss what makes a good project.  

In the second part of the workshop participants will choose to work on one of two streams:  unpacking a community engagement project OR workshopping how archives can be used to engage with communities.  

 Please express your preferred stream by completing the registration form.  

 Stream 1:  Unpacking a Community Engagement Project 

 JMC Anderson will highlight her experience and best practice around her socially-engaged practice as an artist and engagement professional working in the arts and heritage sector across East Anglia. She will talk about her own methodologies for working with an array of a people and together you will discuss how you might approach community based projects and participatory research. We will finish off with a reflective activity based on her commissioned ‘I Am…’ project for Norfolk & Norwich Festival back in 2021, inspired by the ‘I Am a Man’ placards from the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers’ strike. 

Biography:  JMCAnderson is an Artist, Community Curator and Facilitator which underpinned by her socially engaged practice. She also currently works for Ipswich Museum as a Community Engagement Officer.  

Her creative practice  is an exploration of identity, place, belonging and protest, usually contextualised by co-creating with communities, to raise awareness, educate and encourage conversations. She uses text, audio, paint and performance within her work to investigate narratives and stories from the past, present and future. 

https://www.jmcanderson.co.uk/  

 

Stream 2: Archival Encounter.  

The facilitator will bring an item of their own which they consider to be of value and interest. Participants are requested to do the same. Each person’s chosen item could be of personal, historical, cultural or political meaning to them (or possibly will relate to all these categories and/or others). The facilitator will lead on this by talking for a few minutes about their item. Participants will then be invited to do the same. A group discussion will follow to explore how archives can be used to engage with communities and why. 

Biography: Nadia Joseph is the daughter of veterans of the South African liberation struggle. She both volunteered and worked for the Anti-Apartheid Movement in the UK and remains an active campaigner around issues of social justice. She spent several years working as a learning mentor in secondary education. She has written on politics and film and has worked as an editor. Her current role is Heritage Participation Lead for the Anti-Apartheid Legacy. She is also a member of the New Beacon Books support team where she focuses on educational outreach.  

She was born and lives in London, a city that she loves.  

https://antiapartheidlegacy.org.uk/about/people/tltu-staff/  

https://www.newbeaconbooks.com/african-non-fiction/slumboy-from-the-golden-city  

https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/art-and-ideas/where-soul-and-city-connect-a-personal-reflection-on-serpentine-pavilion-2021/  

https://www.waterstones.com/book/girl-in-flight/cat-buchanan/9781068514418  

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/black-britain-and-nelson-mandela-9781350340770/