Contact zones: participation, materiality and the messiness of interaction.

Askins, K.; Pain, R.

Abstract

Recent debates around urban encounter, integration and cosmopolitanism and renewed engagement with contact theory have raised questions about the spaces of interaction that may enable meaningful and lasting encounters between different social groups. Reflecting on what began as a participatory art project with young people of African and British heritage in north east England, we argue that discussion and practice around participatory action research, including the deployment of contact zones as theory and method, can cast some light on what fosters transformative spaces. Through analysis of two different approaches to community art used in the project, we show how elements of each enabled and disabled meaningful interaction between young people. In particular, we draw attention to the materiality of art (the tools) within participatory practices (the doing of it) in contributing to a space where interactions might take place, emphasising a complex interplay across/between actors, materials and space that frames encounters as emergent, transitory, fragile yet hopeful. We examine the potential of such a focus on the material in thinking beyond moments of encounter to how transformative social relations may be ‘scaled up’, before considering the implications for research and policy.

Citation

Askins, K., & Pain, R. (2011). Contact zones: participation, materiality and the messiness of interaction. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 29(5), 803-821. https://doi.org/10.1068/d11109

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2011
• Deposit Date: Sep 16, 2010
• Journal: Environment and Planning D: Society and Space
• Print ISSN: 0263-7758
• Electronic ISSN: 1472-3433
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 803-821
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1068/d11109