Applying Body Mapping in Research: An Arts-Based Method

This book provides an overview of the innovative, arts-based research method of body mapping and offers a snapshot of the field. The review of body mapping projects by Boydell et al. confirms the potential research and therapeutic benefits associated with body mapping. The book describes a series of body mapping research projects that focus on populations marginalised by disability, mental health status, and other vulnerable identities. Chapters focus on summarising the current state of the art and its application with marginalised groups; analytic strategies for body mapping; highlighting body mapping as a creation and a dissemination process; emerging body mapping techniques including web-based, virtual reality, and wearable technology applications; and measuring the impact of body maps on planning, practice, and behaviour. Contributors and editors include interdisciplinary experts from the fields of psychology, sociology, anthropology, and beyond. Offering innovative ways of engaging in body mapping research, which result in real-world impact, this book is an essential resource for postgraduate students and researchers.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Jane X. Solomon Introduction Chapter 1 – Applying body mapping to research with marginalised and vulnerable groups Chapter 2 – Mapping conversations: body maps as relational objects in groups and dialogues Chapter 3 – Representations of complex trauma: body maps as a narrative mosaic Chapter 4 – Body mapping in process: observing how participants represent experiences of anxiety Chapter 5 – The logistics of making and preserving body maps as research data Chapter 6 – Meaning-making and research rigour: approaches to the synthesis of multiple data sources in body mapping Chapter 7 – Development of a web-based body mapping application Chapter 8 – Body mapping and virtual reality Chapter 9 – Wearable technology and body mapping Chapter 10 – Audience response to the dissemination of body mapping research via installation art Chapter 11 – Real-world integration: body maps as a planning tool Concluding remarks: remembering the body

About the Author :
Katherine M. Boydell is Head of the AKT (Arts-Based Knowledge Translation) Lab at the Black Dog Institute and Director of Knowledge Translation, Sydney Partnership for Health Education Research and Enterprise, Australia.

Review :
"Applying Body Mapping in Research provides the reader with an array of valuable lenses to explore body mapping approaches using ethical, inclusive, and respectful practices. Boydell and colleagues share a series of vivid examples as to how this arts-based, interdisciplinary approach allows for new ways to creatively engage, extend, and translate research." - Professor George Belliveau, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia, Canada "This book with its many perspectives, clear writing, and guiding principles will finally allow the powerful technique of body mapping to enrich the armamentarium of both researchers and clinicians. Body mapping allows for a visual, tangible image that allows for self-reflection and storytelling. It is a narrative approach using body sensations, often a private experience but also potentially a shared one that engages others. It puts us in touch with our senses, perceptions, positive and negative emotions, and drives home the fact that body and mind are one." - Mary V. Seeman, OC MDCM, Professor Emerita, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada "Creative arts-based methods for social research are gathering momentum. Body mapping is one such method. This edited collection provides many fascinating examples of how body mapping can be used. The contributors demonstrate exciting possibilities for using the method to encourage people to think about and represent their multisensory and affective experiences and memories through images as well as words. Readers will doubtless be inspired to experiment with body mapping in their own research or public engagement and knowledge translation activities." - Deborah Lupton, PhD, FASSA, DSocSci (honoris causa)