Resistance, Creativity, and Critique in Researching With Children Through Arts‐Based Narrative Inquiry: Aporetics of Subalternity as Methodological Knowledge in Education

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Authors: André Freitas, Rita de Cássia Prazeres Frangella
Cited by: 0
References: 42

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article contributes to efforts to challenge adult‐centred educational research through an arts‐based narrative inquiry co‐composed with Octávio, Raposa, Cármen and Flávio—children aged 6 to 10 from minority communities in Brazil and Portugal. Their narratives emerged through shared storytelling, conversations, interviews, hugs, and playful moments in their schools. Although focused on their school trajectories within art experiences, their participation re‐signified the research process itself. The children's involvement unsettled research approaches, including those framed within poststructuralist methodologies, highlighting the need for more relational and responsive inquiry in education. Through stories attentive to time, place, and sociabilities, the article foregrounds children's methodological agency and their roles as co‐authors of knowledge. The findings, presented through four methodological stories— that's not funny , it's my turn , I don't want to talk anymore , and switch the record off —reveal how children assert political presence and negotiate the boundaries of research.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Children's Rights and Participation Participatory Visual Research Methods Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics

Publication details

Journal / source
European Journal of Education
Volume
61
Issue
1
Publication date
28 January 2026
Language
EN