Researcher and Part time Lecturer: Dr Nita Mishra
Department: International Development.
Integration of GCDE
The focus of this work is to introduce adult learners to GCDE methodologies, with a particular emphasis on the use of creative arts and anti-racism.
Visual artists Laragh Pittman and Hina Khan were invited by academic researchers Nita Mishra (NM) in collaboration with Gertrude Cotter (GC) to facilitate a session for lecturers and staff at UCC looking at creative ways to apply methodologies in the classroom from an anti-racist perspective and with the promotion of ideas of inclusive global citizenship. The purpose was to introduce creative tools for educators to make classrooms more inclusive for non-white, non-Irish students. To open up discussions around race and migration without making anyone uncomfortable in class. According to the facilitators, the purpose was:
…to get participants thinking about what their assumptions and stereotypes about people are and to be aware of the ‘invisible whiteness’ all around (emails between LP, NM, HK, June 2021).
Below are images from “A Virtual Exhibition for World Refugee Week” Presented at the workshop.
Christ Church Cathedral and Counterpoint Arts Festival June 2020.
Dr Mishra would also like to recommend the use of Collective Memory Work (CMW). An example of her work with colleagues in this field can be found here:
Citation: Mishra, N, Onyx, J and McCormick, T (2021) ‘Using Collective Memory Work in Development Education’, Policy and Practice: A Development Education Review, Vol. 32, Spring, pp. 79-102.
Abstract: This article captures aspects of community responses to COVID-19 through a participatory and interdisciplinary approach, namely collective memory-work (CMW). Using an autoethnographic CMW, we share experiences on the theme of solidarity in the backdrop of a global health pandemic and ‘black lives matter’ across continents. As a methodology CMW has been adapted and adjusted by scholars informed by the purpose of its application, institutional frameworks, and organisational necessities.
In the summer of 2020, a CMW symposium was scheduled in an Irish university but postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions. The scholars, however, decided to go online and work on the symposium. This article provides insights into the impact of the two events on the lives of four women scholars aged between 51 and 79 years who formed one of the discussant groups. The unfolding of the two global pandemics, namely racism and COVID-19, leads to reflections upon the conflicts experienced around solidarity, especially between participating in demonstrations in solidarity with #blacklivesmatter, and distancing ourselves in solidarity with all risk groups for COVID-19. One group’s right to breathe stood in opposition to another group’s right to breathe. The process of writing this piece on CMW also taught us to collectively own our final thoughts and words in this article.
Key words: Collective Memory Work; Development Education; Solidarity; Control; Pandemic; Racism; COVID-19.
There is also further information about Collective Memory Writing/Work at this link:
http://collectivememorywork.net
It can be downloaded as an open access ebook here.
Documents
Mishra, Nita_case-study-Praxis-Plan_methodology-creative arts (PDF opens in a new tab/window)
Biography
Dr Nita Mishra
Dr Nita Mishra is a Researcher on a Coalesce Project on Social Inclusion in the Dept of Food Business and Development. She is also a part time lecturer on Development Studies.
Her research interests are on gender, environment, rights-based approaches, and feminist research methodologies. She has published peer-reviewed papers in journals and as book chapters. Her poetry speaks of lives of migrant women across continents. She is the current Chair of Development Studies Association Ireland.
The Centre for Global Development
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