Localism, Narrative and Myth

This case provides a description of a project that used storytelling and photography to present understandings of ‘the local’, and the responses audience members gave to these presentations. Employing art as a lens through which to see and think, we set out to better understand why we might use arts-based methods of inquiry in academic research and how to take the ‘data’ from these artistic interventions and make them usable to policymakers. Since we used methods (storytelling and photography) that are not usually combined with legal analysis, we aimed to better understand the importance of flexibility and creativity to be able to fundamentally change research orientation and strategy when in the field.