Dear Colleagues and Students in the Common Awards network,
One of the research projects being undertaken by the postdoctoral research fellows in the Common Awards team is looking to understand the following: what would theological education look if we took seriously the fact that that varied, unmappable lives of creative discovery were the fundamental resource for our learning? How would this effect our existing theological streams, and for this research, we look particularly at Christian ethics, liberation theology in its academic form, and missiology? The powerpoint attached provides some details regarding the overall project.
This study, conducted by Anupama Ranawana, has different methodological arms, and one of them is the curation of 10 autoethnographies that will look to chart the emotions experienced by an individual throughout their theological journey or at some pivotal moments in this journey and how it affects the ways in which they create knowledge. We would like to invite any staff or student in the TEI network who would be interested in participating to please get in touch with Anupama on : anupama.m.ranawana@durham.ac.uk for a full information pack and other details. All data will be protected and anonymised and subject to Durham University's research ethics policy.
Some details about the process below:
What will happen to me if I take part?
If you agree to take part in this study, you will develop an autoethnography regarding your lived experience as a person who studies or teaches theology and lives a faith based life. You will meet Anupama online to discuss key prompts you may wish to use. You will also participate in two co-creative virtual workshops with other participants in order to put together a collaborative resource for TEIs. If you wish to, you may also provide advice and counsel to the researcher as part of a steering group.
What is the time commitment?
- One 30 minute meeting with Anupama online via Teams where we will discuss any prompts for the autoethnography and the journalling process
- One month in which to work on your autoethnography- and you can put into this as little or as much time as you wish to. (August-September)
- 2 x 2hour online workshops with other collaborators to share our autoethnographies and collaborate on a creative resource together. These workshops will have built in silences and breaks.
- Any offline work on the collaborative resource or joining Anupama to do presentations or papers or anything is up to you- depending on your time and interest. Really, you can decide how involved you wish to be and can limit your involvement to just the autoethnography and the workshops 🙂
Is there renumeration?
There is an honorarium of £100. Anupama will also offer her time and labour as 'in kind' renumeration.
If you've never done co-creation or autoethnography before, please don't worry, there will be lots of resource support and guidance along the way!
With best wishes
Anupama