One of the things I am preoccupied with are the ways in which we use creative forms to communicate about things that are traditionally held within academia and presented in academic style. I am interested in the mixing of forms, and making knowledges accessible to wider audiences in the process. In my own work I’ve tried to bring creative forms into social research and evaluation in small ways- such as using comic book layout to make an evaluation report, or creative writing processes as social research, but trust me, there are much more exciting and creative examples of mixing of forms than that!
Baba Brinkman is an ex-tree planter turned rap troubador who has used the form of rap in many hybrid ways. Since 2004 he’s been touring a show he wrote called “The Rap Canterbury Tales”, has written a rap play, and more recently has written the “Rap Guide to Evolution” which has been touring around in 2009 as part of celebrations of the 200 year anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. This performance, although not strictly on topic as a practice of collaborative ethnography, uses creative arts to further the work of science communication with a certain style and great deal of entertainment. You can go to Babas website to read about the performance and see some short clips of him performing the work, or you can listen to the whole 1 hour performance as recorded by Radio National’s The Science Show at the Darwin Festival in Cambridge UK by clicking here.
hey, lets get the kids to do a rap video about school as a way to find out whats going on. Theyd love it. Justine probably knows a rapper in broome.