God, gods, myth and facts

Blaiki, has chosen to approach her research through the processes described by Cole & Knowles (2007), which requires the researcher to develop their work inquiry using more than one art method.  When writing her poetry, she reconstructed conversations through the use of ‘cutting, pasting and eliminating text’ (Blaikie, 2009) , this allowed her produce poetry which was both sequential and logical in manner. She futher applied poetic wrting techniques in order to create the imagery which she was trying to convey.  Figure 1:, Fiona Blaikie (2009), Painting of The Black Stretch Pants. For the practical visual aspect of the research, she then combined photographs and text in order to produce a collage which was reflective of the person or subject.  These were then converted these into paintings, which are meant to be reflective of the participants. Figure 1, this is an example of one of her poetry and visual inquiry output. 

According to Blaikie, when it comes to art-informed research, its main purpose is to advance in the understanding of the ‘human condition by using unconventional means of inquiry, while also expanding on the on its audience. This type of research is a combination of language, methods, visual and performative arts so as to on the understanding of academic inquiry. (Blaikie, 2009) This kind of research requires the researcher to have an underlining moral purpose for the study, because according to Cole and Knowles, Art-informed research is meant to stand for something. Besides the moral aspect to the research they have also distinguished that this type of research is meant to produce both a written text and a visual image, while also possessing meaning. (Cole, 2007). 

In my B.Tech work I had explored the idea of using two interdisciplinary art forms in order to depict/ translate my chosen bridal narrative. I had focused my attention specifically on artists who had applied the same concepts such as Erismann, who had done so through collaboration with other arts.  In a report I recently came across I found an example of Interdisciplinary Collaboration which occurred between poets and scientist in order to experiment with poetic inquiry within the science field. This involved the exploration between of the differences, similarities and incompatibilities which existed between the two fields (María E. Fernández-Giménez, 2018); this will be something I would also have to take into consideration when conducting my own research using poetry and jewellery as my bases for inquiry into my theme. 

One of the relevant literatures which I have come across was an article entitled: “Poetic Inquiry as a Research and Engagement Method in Natural Resource Science”, written by three authors. In the article there was a section which discussed Poetic Analysis and the process they had adopted for their own research.  What these researchers had done was to create poetry from their qualitative data so as to observe whether or not poetic analysis would result in a new perspective or understanding of ‘social-ecological dynamics’ in a given area, which they had previously analyzed in 2012 using ‘conventional qualitative coding analysis.  They had decided to approach the writing by using a singular transcript form their interviews with their respondent to create 27 poems, which comprised solely on the respondent’s own words, mainly focusing on words which had best articulated meaning most relevant to their chosen theme. These words were then rearranged into order to create the p...

There are various ways in which a researcher could adopt the use of Poetic Inquiry in research such as writing a poem based on the qualitative data which has been gathered through interview transcripts. The researcher would then write poems based either on the research process, the participants, or collaborate with the participant to write the said poem.  According to Faulkner poetry “…embodies experience to show truths that are not usually evident”, it offers research a unique portrayal and expression of the human condition; which ultimately allows for new understanding of any given subject or theme as inquiry forces the researcher to reflect on the entire research process. (María E. Fernández-Giménez, 2018) 

Art-based Research can be described as a set of methods chiefly focused on the various divisions within the arts, such as music, visual arts etc. Therefore ABR would be involved throughout the research process, which would include “data generation, analysis, interpretation, representation, and presentation” (María E. Fernández-Giménez, 2018). 

I recall a childhood me who questioned the role of the “Virgin Mary”, I could not seem to reconcile the Mary who I was being taught in my catholic school to the one I had read about. I failed to find definitive evidence which supported the idea which was presented to me and I therefore could not follow nor stand behind a "truth", which I could not reconcile with. This was the first moment where I learnt to question the teachings of faith given to me.  From that moment on nothing became simply acceptable to me, especially when it came to the matters of God, just because someone of some kind of authority said so. If I couldn’t find definitive proof, or feel some sort of strong conviction in my soul, then it was left as questionable to me or like Christmas a practice which I could no longer follow.  Were giants, angels, monsters, dragons etc.  purely all from the imagination or was the real proof which either proves or disproves them all? The Bible speaks of them, sto...

According to Faith Wambura Ngunjiri, Living Autoethnography is a qualitative research method which based on the context and the individual so as to create an understanding between the individual and other people within the same perspective. Ngunjiri stated that this method is qualitative, self-focused and yet is still context conscious; which is something which is similar to my chosen theme as I will not be solely focused on my personal perspective but the research which I will find, while also taking the overall relation of others. She has also noted this research method also allows for the study of themes which would not be easy investigated nor explored through the use of other methods such as loss, depression, pain etc. and in my case God (Ngunjiri, 2008).   Kakali Bhattacharya, wrote about the use of qualitative methods in Art Based Research. In her paper Bhattacharya, discussed how the intersection of qualitative inquiry and poetic-inquiry grounded in arts-based rese...

As I will be using poetry which I have either written or will write, I cannot escape the personal approach which this research will have. However, I will attempt to be as impartial as possible so as to produce research is not purely centered on a biased Christian viewpoint, but an accurate scrutiny of God and gods.   Research aside, throughout my life I have been somehow exposed to this constant need of humans to search for spirituality in one form or the other; something which exists yonder what we can touch, feel, see and understand in the physical. This statement becomes apparent when you read books, switch on the television and sometimes speaking to people; you will hear stories about magic, healers, diviners and those who have found this untapped acquaintance with God.  Personal perspective aside, there has been enough research conducted, stories told and movies made, which is a suggestion that people have this yearning to search or at least ear about this God,...

As previously mentioned, there is nothing in this world that I feel more passionate about than God and there is no other theme which has been the center of my personally poetic writings outside the Trinity. Personal reasons aside, I do feel that I will be able to provide solid academic and social significance for my chosen theme.  As my research will be for academic purposes and not personal I will be making reference to the Bible and may reflect on relevant scripture; however, I will not be using the Bible as a reference. My references will include external videos, interviews, literature such as books, research, studies conducted by theologians, scholars etc. In my previous post, I had listed various ways one could approach my chosen theme and once I have summarized these approaches, I will then chose the research method I feel will most benefit my research and direction.

I have been researching the various methods in which I could approach my research in order to integrate my poetry as a fundamental part of my work. My initial though was to further develop and investigate Translation using the interart mediums of jewellery and poetry. However, through my holiday research, I have found that there have been previous works which have included poetry as central part of research.  Some of the studies which I have come across have chosen to explore the use of poetry within academic research as follows: Poetic inquiry, Art-based Qualitative Research, Autobiographical Writing, Narrative Inquiry, Performative Research, Poetry as a Research Method, Ekphrasis, Autoethnography as Research Method, Poetry as a Process and a Product of Research, Practice-based and Practice-led Research, Inter-Art Research, and Interart Translation.  Proving there truly are countless ways to skin a cat, and in my case that there are many ways to approach research. ...

1. Reproducing the same image in the TL depending on relevance. 2. The translator may replace the image in the SL with a standard TL image. 3. Translation of metaphor by simile 4. Translation of metaphor (or simile) by simile plus sense 5. Conversion of metaphor to sense. 6. Deletion. 7. Same metaphor combined with sense. 

"words are not things, bit symbols of things... we may regard words as the first articulation of meaning, and since all symbols are metaphors or metonyms replacing their objects, all words are therefore metaphorical. Howecer, as translators we know that words in context are neither things nor usually the same symbols as individual words, but components of a larger symbol... ' Therefore when regarding translation as a metaphor the following terms may be relevant: A. Object B. Image C. Sense D. Metaphor E. Metonym

Came across the summary of translation prerequisites by Savory. 1. A translation must give the words of the original. 2. A translation must give the ideas of the original. 3. A translation should read like an original work. 4. A translation should read like a translation. 5. A translation should reflect the style of the original. 6. A translation should possess the style of the original. 7. A translation should read as a contemporary of the original 8. A translation should read as a contemporary of the translation. 9. A translation may add to or omit from the original. 10. A translation may never add to or omit from the original. 11. A translation of verse should be in prose. 12. A translation of verse should be in verse.

A. The intention of the text B. The intention of the translator C. The reader and the setting of the text D. The quality of the writing and the authority of the text

Based on Rieu, Newmark stated the following: "There is wide but universal agreement that the main aim of the translator is to produce as nearly as possible the same effect on his readers as was produced on the readers of the original. Based on the above text, in my work  I would therefore need to be able to produce the same effect in my narrative jewellery as I would in my poetry, in order to have been able to have translated the chosen narrative. This translation principle is known as funtional or dynamic equivalence. 

In order to make sense of what I want to articulate I have decided to first understand the concept and approaches to translation in general. According to Peter Newmark, "...the translator and the text-writer have different theories of meaning and different values. The translator's theory colours his interpretation of the text. He may set greater value than the text-writer on the connotation and correspondingly less on denotation. He may look for symbolism where realism was intended; for several meanings where only one was intended; for different emphasis, based on his own philosophy or even his reading of the syntax. "