Takeuchi, MiwaDadkhahfard, Shima2024-09-052024-09-052024-09-03Dadkhahfard, S. (2024). Co-creation of visual stories as a transdisciplinary approach (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.https://hdl.handle.net/1880/119600Through the co-creation of visual stories, this study explored the racialized and gendered bodily experiences of Afghan refugee/forced migrant families in relation to agency within the school context, particularly mathematics classroom. Using arts-based research, I facilitated workshops to evoke conversations around racialized and gendered bodily experiences of Afghan refugee/forced migrant families in the school context. An illustrated story book was used as a mediational tool to underscore the affordances of visuals in the workshops. The data sources included drawings, video recordings of the workshops, and visual field notes taken during the workshops. I conducted a visual discourse analysis of the drawings to examine how visual elements utilized in the illustrated story book helped participants to share their own bodily experiences. Mediational tools are artifacts that can mediate various actions of individuals and can shape both individual and social processes (Esmonde & Booker, 2016; Wertsch, 1998). The visual analysis of the drawings revealed that participants visually expressed their bodily experiences to depict their power and agency (Holland et al., 2001) in the school context. Participants and I illustrated findings from this study in the form of digital illustration. The story of Gol Noor was collaboratively created by the participants and me. It was co-created based on the visual analysis of the participants’ drawings, the narratives shared by participants, my own interpretations as an artist/researcher, and feedback from participants in an iterative cycle. The findings highlighted that (1) participants repurposed the artistic tools and visual elements utilized in the illustrated story book to visually communicate their embodied stories, and (2) participants communicated their experiences through representation of their bodies in relation to their agency in school, particularly focusing on aspects related to their gender and race.enUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.Co-creation of Visual StoriesArt-based MethodsVisual ArtsMediationAgencyMathematicsVisual StoryEducation--ArtEducationEducation--SciencesEducation--Social SciencesDesign and Decorative Artsdoctoral thesis