A Visual Study of an Academic Writing Skills Workshop – an Example from Brazil

Citation

Michael M (2019) A Visual Study of an Academic Writing Skills Workshop – an Example from Brazil. 2019 SRHE Annual Research Conference, Newport, Wales, 11.12.2019-13.12.2019. https://www.srhe.ac.uk/conference2019/downloads/SRHE_ARC_Abstracts_2019.pdf

Abstract
Although there is growing research on teaching academic writing skills, little is situated in contexts of the Global South: our understanding of such practices is impoverished in consequence. Using a visual study of writing workshops delivered in two Brazilian universities, this paper presents an arts-based sociomaterial analysis-in-progress. Specifically, through researcher-created drawings the analysis will explore how workshop practices are shaped by material, sensory and political contexts of ‘being published’ in Brazil, and it shows what these practices look like. At first glance these practices might appear familiar but, critically for what will be the mid-point of analysis, the presentation will ask the following: to what extent is appearance a reflection of my own northernised gaze? To what extent can researcher-created drawings illuminate the complexity of teaching practices in an unfamiliar context? And how might prickly ethical issues of visual research in higher education settings be resolved?

Keywords
Academic writing; visual methods; art-based methods; practice