Professional practice is increasingly becoming more complex demanding dynamic and diverse. This important and original new book considers how self-study using arts-based methods can enable purposeful reflection toward understanding and envisioning professional practice. Ideally for visual arts practitioners on all levels this book presents a self-study model grounded in compelling research that highlights arts-based methods for examining four areas of professional practice: professional identities work cultures change and transitions and envisioning new pathways.

Chapters address the components of the self-study model artistic methods and materials and strategies for interpreting self-study written and visual outcomes with the aim of goal setting. Each chapter includes visuals references and end-of-chapter prompts to engage readers in critical and visual reflection. Appendices offer resources and guidelines for creating and assessing self-study outcomes.

The fluctuating nature of professional practice necessitates the pursuit of discernment and clarity that can be achieved through an ongoing reflective practice. Self-study is a systematic and flexible methodology for purposeful reflection on professional practice that embraces dialogic interpretive rhizomatic and visual inquiry. Self-study can occur at any level of practice and in the context of work-related professional development formal study or as a self-initiated inquiry. An arts-based self-study model for visual arts practitioners is explored and focuses on four intersectional components shaping professional practice: professional identities work cultures and communities transition and change within professional practice and envisioning new pathways for professional practice.

The self-study model is grounded in contemporary theory practice and compelling research and embraces robust strategies for understanding the complexities of professional practice that can include dual multiple overlapping hybrid and conflicting professional identities tensions within work cultures and unexpected changes within professional practice. Each chapter focuses on a component of the self-study model and an area of professional practice concluding with references and end-of-chapter prompts that are aimed to facilitate critical reflection-on-practice and the creation of written and visual responses.

With visual arts practitioners in mind various arts-based methods for self-study are discussed that highlight visual journaling as a key method for engaging in self-study. Interpretive research methods are discussed to guide readers in understanding the phases and processes for interpreting written and visual self-study outcomes. Processes are outlined to help readers determine key insights themes issues and questions from their self-study outcomes how to use them in formulating new questions and articulating new professional goals. Several levels for interpretation are presented to offer readers options relative to their professional needs and aims.

Throughout the text charts and visuals serve to summarize and visualize key chapter points. Images by visual arts practitioners appear throughout the text and represent a wide range of artistic media methods and approaches appropriate for self-study. The appendices provide additional resources for enhanced understanding of chapter concepts and key terms guidelines and rubrics for writing reflections creating visual responses and using a visual journal in the self-study process.

Primary readership will be visual arts practitioners at all levels. Ideal for university level graduate courses or as a guide for individuals and small groups of practitioners who seek to engage in arts-based self-study as professional development.

This book presents key findings from a 4-year project that sought to understand Ethno Gatherings an organized residential folk world and traditional music programme for young people aged 18-30. In response to three lines of enquiry pedagogy and professional development participant experience and the impact it had upon those who attended the authors examine the complexity of an Ethno music experience. By considering its history and current practices the following themes are explored: non-formal music making personal authenticity holistic praxis musical possible selves intercultural music exchange sustainability social media engagement song sharing and future practices. Constructed through data drawn from participant observations interviews online social media analysis onsite and video observations surveys and questionnaires the authors ask critical questions concerning Ethno’s history ethos pedagogy and philosophical ideals. First held in Sweden in 1990 Ethno Gatherings are now located in over 40 countries worldwide and are part of JM Internationals youth music programmes. As a collection of integrated thought the book’s purpose is to illuminate new understandings of what Ethno does to support its future growth and development.

The first English language scholarly collection of articles on the leading Berlin based German artist and film-maker Ulrike Ottinger. The articles engage with the full range of the works from the early Berlin feature films of the 1970s and .'80s to the ethnographic documentaries also including the art exhibitions photography shows installations and artist books. The book brings together feminist film theorists with art historians and cultural theorists each with a distinctive and detailed perspective on the queer fabulist genres of Ottinger now in her 80s.

Based on over a decade of collective teaching this volume explores the hybrid use of online and in-person collaboration as a means of offering international experience to university-level arts students. Chapters articulate a collective learning based on the experiences of the International Art Collaborations Network (INTAC) Collective Body group and related programs which the authors and contributors have participated in as educators and students.

Illustrated with photographs screenshots and student projects the book inspires reflection on teaching methodologies and student artmaking strategies across cultures and languages. Pedagogical and methodological topics trace an evolution of curricular approaches and use of evolving online platforms. Examples of themes and visual strategies demonstrate the power of student-directed collaborative learning. Diverse voices have been gathered through research conducted with educators and alumni connected to INTAC providing perspectives on working collaboratively in a global context.

Student projects exemplify responses to the challenges of communication and creation that come with distanced artistic partnership. Chapters end with suggested points for conversation whether between educators students of art education or students entering collaborations. Although based on experiences in the visual arts the ideas and methods are applicable to others engaging in inter-institutional education or online collaborative practices.

Fully illustrated with examples of collaborative art projects photographs screenshots diagrams and posters.

Using both photographs and written narratives The Bitter Landscapes of Palestine provides a depiction of the lives and struggles faced by Palestinians living in the occupied Palestinian territories on the West Bank in particular the South Hebron Hills and the Jordan Valley. It sheds light on issues including house demolitions conflicts between Palestinian shepherds or farmers and Israeli settlers soldiers and police the daily struggles brought about by the occupation's efforts to displace Palestinians from their land and the resilience and bravery required to endure these conditions. This moving book conveys the beauty of the landscape the essence of the language the value of friendships and the richness of a threatened way of life.

Voices of activists both Palestinian and Jewish are brought into focus. The historical context that generated present realities in Palestine is outlined briefly as well as the history of the authors’ partnership.  Their perspective mirrors extensive years of involvement in peace and human rights activism in Palestine. It also captures the ongoing dialogue between the two authors who have experienced together the continually renewed astonishment that comes with such experiences and encounters.

Reframing Berlin is about how architecture and the built environment can reveal the memory of a city an urban memory through its transformation and consistency over time by means of ‘urban strategies’ which have developed throughout history as cities have adjusted to numerous political religious economic and societal changes. These strategies are organised on a ‘memory spectrum’ which range from demolition to memorialisation.

It reveals the complicated relationship between urban strategies and their influence on memory-making in the context of Berlin since 1895 with the help of film locations. It utilises cinematic representations of locations as an audio-visual archive to provide a deeper analysis of the issues brought up by strategies and case studies in relation to memory-making.

Foreword by Kathleen James-Chakraborty

A new volume in the Mediated Cities series from Intellect

Proposes a methodology for incorporating concepts drawn from ancestor trance in Afrolatinx ritual for actors trained in Western methods. Danowski created four new works of theatrical performance writing the play texts and incorporating acting exercises from Afrolatinx rituals adapted for non–practitioners. Working toward a phenomenological understanding of what is happening when a performer incorporates a character drawing on the ritual knowledge of trance possession in Lukumí and Palo Monte to examine how ontologies might speak to each other.

Constructing a methodology called kanga (from the Bantu for tying and untying) using three methods based on aspects of Afrolatinx ritual and modified for performance contexts: spell charm and trance. This methodology enacts and complicates distinctions between performance and ritual serving as a contribution to respectful and responsible intercultural performance practices.

The methodology is bricoleur drawing from ethnography psychoanalytic theory and phenomenology. Kanga in practice leads to a state of consciousness that Danowski calls hauntological. This borrows from Derrida but is redefined to refer to the study of haunted states of consciousness where reality is co–constituted by the living and the dead where ancestral spirits are invoked to do the work once reserved for characters.

Comics have always embraced a diversity of formats existing in complex relationships to other media and been dynamic in their response to new technologies and means of distribution. This collection explores interactions between comics other media and technologies employing a wide range of theoretical and critical perspectives.

By focusing on key critical concepts within multimodality (transmediality adaptation intertextuality) and addressing multiple platforms and media (digital analogue music prose linguistics graphics) it expands and develops existing comics theory and also addresses multiple other media and disciplines.

Over the last decade Studies in Comics has been at the forefront of international research in comics. This volume showcases some of the best research to appear in the journal. In so doing it demonstrates the evolution of Comics Studies over the last decade and shows how this research field has engaged with various media and technologies in a continuously evolving artistic and production environment. The theme of multimodality is particularly apt since media and technologies have changed significantly during this period. The collection will thus give a view of the ways in which comics scholars have engaged with multimodality during a time when “modes” were continually changing.

This book is for artists teachers and those who prepare teachers. In the field of art and design education there are many theoretical strands that contribute to the practices of teaching and learning in the visual arts. The problem for artist teachers and those who prepare teaching artists is how to frame the diverse methodologies of art and art education in a way that affords divergent practices as well as deep understanding of issues and trends in the field. Teachers need a field guide that provides a contextual background of theory in order to make their own teaching practice relevant to contemporary art practices and important ideas within the field of education. The book in its content and presentation of content is pedagogical; it provides a catalyst and prompt for meaningful and personal artistic inquiry and exploration.



The book describes connections between teaching and artistic practices including the pedagogical turn in contemporary art. As a book for artists and designers it is graphically compelling and visually inspiring. It is designed to be engaging for the practitioner and theoretically robust. A problem with many current texts is that they are written by academics who are often a step removed from the issues of classroom instruction and tend use the language of the scholar which is appropriate for a scholarly journal but can be difficult for other audiences. This book will bridge this divide through its use of design narrative and descriptions of innovative artistic practices. Rather than being a book about “best practice” it is a book about “diverse practices” within art making and teaching.



This field guide to artistic approaches including methods for teaching art frames its arguments around critical questions that artists and art teachers must address such as: What is the role of art and design in secondary education? What will I teach? How do we go about teaching art? How do I know if my teaching is working? What is the role of traditional mediums and methods within contemporary art practices? How can art teachers contribute to the reinvention of schools? How might fluency within a medium be connected to important issues within culture including the culture of adolescents? This book includes examples of approaches that might provoke or inspire artist and pedagogical inquiry. These are approaches that actively engage students in work that disrupts taken for granted conventions about schooling and its purposes. It considers how art and design might transform the school experience for adolescents.

This substantially revised and expanded edition of the The Drama Therapy Decision Tree provides an integrated model for therapeutic decision-making by uniting drama therapy interventions with diagnostic information individual and group processes psychological distance the drama therapy pie and global outcomes.

This book is a practical guide in four sections not a checklist. Rather than using a standardized protocol that makes the decisions for the therapist drama therapy is based on dynamic embodied creative action with participants in the here and now. Conscious planning on the part of the drama therapist before the session supports spontaneity and creativity preparing them to make good therapeutic decisions in the moment during the session.

The opening section guides readers through the foundational principles leading readers into Section Two The Decision Tree which is a series of questions for early career drama therapists to ask themselves as they prepare treatment plans for clients. Diversity Equity and Ethics are covered in Section Three from the point of view of creative arts therapy practitioners. Section Four looks at Integrating the Five Phases of Treatment with the Drama Therapy Pie following different populations (diagnosis) of clients through the five phases of group therapy in order to illustrate how the Decision Tree supports intervention choice in the different phases of treatment.

The authors strive to provide a common language for communicating what drama therapists do and how they do it in order to demystify drama therapy for other mental health and medical professionals. Using the decision tree as a guide early career drama therapists can move forward confidently and ground their work with participants in an integrated system. 



An online searchable database of drama therapy interventions provides descriptions therapeutic outcomes addressed and other useful information provides a wealth of additional supporting material. There is also a separate online resource of deroling activities.



The online resources here can also be an asset for non-drama therapists who are wanting to incorporate a more active and embodied component safely into their work particularly in terms of warm-ups closure and deroling.