‘Solidarity!’ is a collaborative project and will loosely
follow the principles of ‘youth participatory action research’
(YPAR). The aim of this style of research is to work
collaboratively to produce knowledge with young people
that recognises lived experience and seeks to take action to change how the WCML work with young people.
In doing this, participants become co-researchers: participants will shape the topics for our discussions, the materials we work with, and the outcome of the project. The project is an opportunity for young people to change how the WCML works with young people. We will put on an exhibtion, but we might also make a film, or a zine, or a book, to document the project.
Throughout the ‘Solidarity!’ project, I will collect ‘data’ in
the form of notes, anything we might write down together
as a group, and from anything we produce throughout
the project. This ‘data’ will inform my ‘findings’. I will
present both the data and my findings to participants for
‘co-analysis’, we’ll think about things like how we interpret
information, whether any findings are conflicting, and what
the biggest, most surprising or ‘important’ findings are.
Bea’s research questions (works in progress)
- What does working-class heritage mean to working-class young people today?
- How might ‘artefacts’ of working-class heritage be used to understand the importance of a class perspective on inequality, social activism and political engagement for contemporary generations?
- Does/can engagement with the WCML collection encourage political awareness that might be used in tackling contemporary social problems?
- How can young people’s voices be meaningfully incorporated into heritage collection and engagement strategies?
- How can creative interventions and collaborative making be used to engage young people in the WCML collection?
- How effectively do YPAR-inspired participatory research methods work in heritage settings?
This research addresses enduring social, political, economic, and educational inequalities, particularly relevant amid current austerity and precarity. The central focus are the co-production of research and an exhibition with young people, and discussion. Both aim to foster youth ‘engagement’ with working-class heritage at the WCML.
Situated outside of academia and led by young people, the project centres youth voice and challenges dominant narratives through YPAR-inspired research. This research contributes to knowledge on youth and class but also facilitates young people to reclaim and reinterpret working-class heritage, strengthening an inclusive environment at the WCML.
About Bea
I’m interested in this research because I think working-class heritage is important and overlooked, and believe young people’s perspectives are vital and often absent in cultural organisations and their practices. I am 30 years old, working-class, white and from Derbyshire. I am queer, disabled, and an artist; these things inform how I approach the research and move through the world.
There is no single definition or criteria for being working-
class. Class can be economic, social and cultural and exists
alongside other forms of oppression and marginalisation.
Reclaim, a Manchester-based youth organisation that sadly don’t exist anymore, suggest that being working-class might be characterised by:
- Having, or having grown up on, a low income with
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limited access to wealth;
-
Not having many family connections to people with
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well-paid professional or powerful jobs;
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Finding it hard to ‘fit in’ with middle-class spaces,
- conversations and interests.
This is just one way to think about clas. Class is contested
and complex, and this is something we will explore together throughout the project.