This book provides a thought-provoking guide to conducting collaborative arts-based research. Focusing on ways that social inquiry might be conducted with marginalised groups to promote social justice, the text offers chapters on: Telling 'alternative' stories through a variety of methods from crafts to digital film Visual and metaphorical approaches to social research including photography, art and poetry Performative methods that include drama, dance, music and performance art Foster introduces relevant methodological debates, giving a context for understanding when arts-based research can be a fruitful approach to take and outlining a convincing rationale for using the arts as a way of understanding and representing the social world. The book also suggests a range of alternative criteria for evaluating the quality of arts-based research. Illustrative examples from around the world are used throughout the book and an extended case study is included that focuses on Foster's own collaborative arts-based research. With their emphasis on the value of participative research and social justice, arts-based methodologies are becoming increasingly popular in health and social research. This is the ideal text for anyone looking to introduce arts-based methods into their research practice.

This book provides a thought-provoking guide to conducting collaborative arts-based research. Focusing on ways that social inquiry might be conducted with marginalised groups to promote social justice, the text offers chapters on: Telling 'alternative' stories through a variety of methods from crafts to digital film Visual and metaphorical approaches to social research including photography, art and poetry Performative methods that include drama, dance, music and performance art Foster introduces relevant methodological debates, giving a context for understanding when arts-based research can be a fruitful approach to take and outlining a convincing rationale for using the arts as a way of understanding and representing the social world. The book also suggests a range of alternative criteria for evaluating the quality of arts-based research. Illustrative examples from around the world are used throughout the book and an extended case study is included that focuses on Foster's own collaborative arts-based research. With their emphasis on the value of participative research and social justice, arts-based methodologies are becoming increasingly popular in health and social research. This is the ideal text for anyone looking to introduce arts-based methods into their research practice.

On a chilly October morning in 1858, ten-year-old Jim Peck remains alone beside the fresh Kentucky grave of his mother. He struggles to gather his memories before they are blown across the weathered headstones and out of his life forever. Later that night, the sting of desertion deepens when his distraught father leaves Jim and his four younger siblings in the care of their Aunt Sally and Uncle Zur. As the children grapple with their personal loss, an even larger tragedy begins to seep through the cracks of their already fragile world. Neighbors line up against neighbors as Kentuckians are forced to choose between the Blue and the Grey, and family loyalties are tested and sometimes broken.

Over the next few years, the Civil War encircles the border state with the inescapable certainty of a hangman's noose. While further south, Georgia and the Carolinas boast of loyalty to the Confederate Cause, the drums of valor grow muffled while reaching northward and eastward across the Barren River and along Peters Creek. As a border state, Kentucky cuts its veins open with dissention, leaving even its children marked by the stains of war.

Walt Whitman wrote of a child who goes forth every day, and as he looks upon the world, he becomes that world. Jim Peck looks upon death, desertion, and bitter conflict at a young age, but as he grows, he also perceives compassion, hope, and humor in those around him. At a time when Kentucky must bury her dead and nurture her wounded, Jim reaches deep and uncovers his own compassion, hope, and humor waiting patiently alongside his best-protected memories.

PMWhile working as an exotic dancer in a small town of Brooklyn,IL; Lynn meets this handsome young stud by the name of Louis.In no time at all, she is swept off her feet by his charm n charisma. In a matter of months they are married and her children Sausha and Carl are ecstatic about there new dad,What seemed to be the perfect family turns into the catastrophe from hell.Not only does he manipulate her, but he turns her children against her as well. This story will not only move you emotionally,but uplift you spiritually.Get ready for the most compelling, motivating, and encouraging story that you have ever encountere