Work

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

Year: 2026

Type: article

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.

Source: European Journal of Education

DOI: 10.1111/ejed.70486

Authors: André Freitas, Rita de Cássia Frangella

Institutions: Universidade Lusófona, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

Language: English

Topic: Children's Rights and Participation

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,350