Testimonials

Our pilot-phase testers say about the Guided Practice:

“The instructions allow me to think with my body and this provides me with different ways of perceiving the materials in front of me.” (PhD Student Anthropology)

“I had often let visual impairment become the most defining characteristic of my researcher identity and relationship with participants. Through this task, I wanted to ask how other aspects of my identity, such as gender, ethnicity, and accent, would impact my fieldwork.” (MRes Student Anthropology) 

“I envisage it would be very helpful for researchers to remain present and reduce the influence of their own internal dialogue of beliefs and values which skew the interpreting observations. A really good approach to enhance researchers’ capabilities and performance.” (Patient and Public Involvement Advisor)

“I have had to rely on interviews often. The Toolkit made me aware of the limitations of sitting, and how uncomfortable this is for me in general. I may be communicating some of this discomfort which frames the atmosphere of the interview. Also, I often have limited choice over the physical surroundings of where I do interviews but had not thought about how the physicality of the environment interacts with the physicality of our bodies.” (Research Fellow, Anthropology) 

“This Toolkit helps people to question the status quo of the world, and how their own worldview is tied into that, including how researchers engage with their research.(Research Fellow, Agriculture)

“I frequently get back pain from my work even though I study dance. So to me this does not make much sense. The Toolkit helped me bridge the practical work I am researching into the analysis, reading and writing stages, and how I can explore knowledge in the body.” (Assistant Professor, Theatre Studies and Dance)

“I have carried out work in contexts where I have had to really cover up my body and act in ways that are unnatural to me: not crossing my legs, not making that much eye contact etc. The Toolkit made me think about what this could have meant for the research participants I was interacting with.” (Research Fellow, Anthropology)

“As much as a researcher is involved in the process, some people get too involved in their fieldwork and forget their own values. This Toolkit can help them returning to their bodies and becoming aware of the value their bodies can have in research.” (BA Student Anthropology)

“The toolkit has reminded me that research and academia more generally are always embodied affairs. Remembering and being with my body rather than only in my head, the various somatic practices have helped open me up to other ways of knowing, noticing the many voices and relations that I often neglect to the determinant of my own motivation and health” (Research Fellow, Anthropologist of Microbes)