title: Ethics in Community-University-Artist Partnered Research: Tensions, Contradictions and Gaps Identified in an 'Arts for Social Change' Project.
abstract: Academics from diverse disciplines are recognizing not only the procedural ethical issues involved in research, but also the complexity of everyday "micro" ethical issues that arise. While ethical guidelines are being developed for research in aboriginal populations and low-and-middle-income countries, multi-partnered research initiatives examining arts-based interventions to promote social change pose a unique set of ethical dilemmas not yet fully explored. Our research team, comprising health, education, and social scientists, critical theorists, artists and community-activists launched a five-year research partnership on arts-for-social change. Funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council in Canada and based in six universities, including over 40 community-based collaborators, and informed by five main field projects (circus with street youth, theatre by people with disabilities, dance for people with Parkinson's disease, participatory theatre with refugees and artsinfused dialogue), we set out to synthesize existing knowledge and lessons we learned. We summarized these learnings into 12 key points for reflection, grouped into three categories: community-university partnership concerns (n= 3), dilemmas related to the arts (n= 5), and team issues (n= 4). In addition to addressing previous concerns outlined in the literature (e.g., related to consent, anonymity, dangerous emotional terrain, etc.), we identified power dynamics (visible and hidden) hindering meaningful participation of community partners and university-based teams that need to be addressed within a reflective critical framework of ethical practice. We present how our team has been addressing these issues, as examples of how such concerns could be approached in community-university partnerships in arts for social change.
authors: School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, 430-2206 East Mall, UBC, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3 Canada.
authors: Annalee
authors: 0000-0001-9103-4051
authors: A
authors: Yassi
authors: International Centre for Art for Social Change and Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC Canada ; English Department, Concordia University, Montreal, QC Canada.
authors: Jennifer Beth
authors: JB
authors: Spiegel
authors: School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, 430-2206 East Mall, UBC, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3 Canada.
authors: Karen
authors: K
authors: Lockhart
authors: International Centre for Art for Social Change and Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC Canada.
authors: Lynn
authors: L
authors: Fels
authors: Black Dog Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia ; Departments of Psychiatry and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada.
authors: Katherine
authors: K
authors: Boydell
authors: International Centre for Art for Social Change and Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC Canada.
authors: Judith
authors: J
authors: Marcuse
keywords: Collaboration; Community-university-artist partnered research; Ethics in teams; Interdisciplinarity; Team dynamics