Embodied Beginnings: Planning Research during the Pandemic

Starting a new research project is always a daunting task, and even more so under the present circumstances. Central to my research is collaboration with anti-poverty groups, which in the past has relied on face to face interactions, particularly in creative workshops. I enjoy sitting together with others – warming my hands round a mug of tea and passing the biscuits round the circle – listening to people talk about their experiences and seeing others in the room reciprocate with murmurs of understanding and encouragement. I value the unexpected encounters and conversations that emerge in how people respond to prompts and questions, in seeing shared ideas and images form between us as a group. For me, noticing and being part of these interactions – this inhabiting of bodies and spaces – is where much of the research lives. Thinking about how theological research practices are themselves embodied is as much a part of this project as the questions about how everyday aspects of anti-poverty activism are deeply embodied practices.

            Of course, various factors around the pandemic will require considering the qualitative methods undertaken in the research collaboration. For now, much of these research interactions will need to be carried out via videocall, phone, or sending out resources for creative journaling by post. However, the lack of ‘in person’ methods will not change the fact that research is always a material practice. Just because interactions happen at a distance or via technology does not meant that they are ‘disembodied’, rather the research will be differently embodied. As Mayra Rivera contends in her work Poetics of the Flesh (2015), our bodies continue to be shaped by and shape discourses around race, gender, class, sexuality, disability and global location; this remains true when performing distanced or digital interactions.

Due to this, the current context requires thinking more about the ethics of collaborative research and how the methodologies and values of a research project are practised. The Covid Realities project [https://covidrealities.org] has already hosted some key conversations around conducting participative research during this time. They have highlighted the delicate balance: one the one hand, there is the need for in-depth analyses of how existing inequalities have been further entrenched during this pandemic; on the other, recognising that the ethical concerns around power imbalances in research and the challenges of asking participants to give their time and energy may also be exacerbated. In their recent webinar series, presenters reflected on how the values of participative research can be refigured during this time, for example in thinking through questions of who is excluded or included by any chosen research method or creating a sense of community through research practices.

            This thinking is really critical, and it is something that I will be considering over the course of the project, in conjunction with the collaborating communities. How do we translate some of the values of collaborative, creative research into this new context? What does it look like to encourage the connection between people when meeting via videocall? How do we best involve the skills and insights of all collaborators in all areas of the research process? How can we ensure that research is not ‘extractive’ but involves collaborators in analysing and interpreting the emerging themes and concerns? How can we share this wisdom and analysis with wider audiences? For me, these questions about collaborative, non-extractive research are not only an important ethical element in conducting qualitative research but are also vital to the theological practicing of research. They are questions about how theological research can both replicate and disrupt inequalities in power and resources. They are questions about how theological knowledge is formed, and by whom. I look forward to discussing these questions over the next two years with collaborators and colleagues.

Clare Radford (LTI postdoc researcher, 2020-22)