January 10 CQ Seminar Toronto, Ontario Theatre as hermeneutic methodology: A case study of the use of theatre in bioethics research January 10 CQ Seminar Toronto, OntarioCanPREP Canadian Program of Research on Ethics in a Pandemic

Talk Overview: 1)Theoretical framework: Instrumental versus hermeneutic research 2) Empirical example: the making of Abide With Me: A Story of Two Pandemics 3) Analysis: making sense of theatre as a hermeneutic methodology

Theoretical Framework: Re-locating systems of inquiry on political/epistemological grounds: instrumental versus hermeneutic research

Neo-liberalism and the knowledge economy: Neo-liberalism is the term used to indicate the political rationality that emerged in the late 1970s/early 1980s and that rests on the underlying principles of classical liberalism: the dominance of a free market ethos, a minimal role for government and an emphasis on individual freedom and choice along with responsibility and self reliance. Knowledge economy is a term that indicates a series of wide spread political and economic shifts through which knowledge has become recast as a central object or goal of production, thus allowing it to enter into an economized system of trade

Salient features of instrumental and hermeneutic research: Salient FeaturesInstrumental ResearchHermeneutic Research Fundamental epistemological stance of research/researcher: Explanation; answering questions or hypotheses; finding solutions Destabilization; further questioning; opening new avenues for thought Underlying research rationale:Goal or solution-orientedTo generate meaning; to unsettle the boundaries of what/how we know Research vista: Causative – Single factors; closed systems Contextual - multiple overlapping factors; open, complex systems Availability for synthesis, meta- analysis or evaluation: Aims to be readily availableOften not available or amenable to many forms of evaluation; reflection takes place through ongoing reflexivity Relationship to traditional research methods: May be quantitative, qualitative or mixed-methods Often qualitative in nature, but could be quantitative Common field or disciplinary affiliations: Professional fields (including medicine, social work, engineering, education); applied social science Arts and humanities; basic, or pure sciences (i.e. non-applied); non-applied social science Orientation toward knowledge market: Aims to be readily applicable, or commercializable, within a market driven by knowledge users Applicability may be hard to identify or unknown at point of inception; research may produce complex knowledge not amenable to straightforward application

Empirical Example: The Making of Abide With Me: A Story of Two Pandemics

Project goals: Not to provide moral guidance or answers … To allow ethical questions, and competing ethical viewpoints, to co-exist such that the audience may participate in ethical deliberation

Early Data Collection: Cross-country surveys Stakeholder forum Cross-country citizen town halls

Brantford, 1918: A Comparative Case Study… Brantford is a town of 90,000, one hour west of Toronto Was a thriving, multicultural, industrial centre in 1918 Boasts a very rich local archive

Historical Data Collection: Local newspaper archives Historical hospital records and nursing school archives City hall and armory records Four key informant interviews with local citizens alive during the 1918 pandemic

Improvisatory Work With Students:

Script Building Used historical data as a means to illuminate and add complexity to contemporary ethical pandemic-related issues

Analyzing Abide With Me as Hermeneutic Methodology

Critical methodological criteria that facilitate play-making as hermeneutic inquiry: Trust Panic Receptivity to a broad definition of data (being a data magpie) Serendipity Attending to creative insight as a form of analysis Reflexivity

Conclusions: Play-making as politically resistant

Thank you and questions!