Challenging Understandings of Racism: Steps to an Ecology of Culture

This research challenges understandings of racism through a drama-based education praxis. The book structure is informed by the inquiry into the two-part research question: i)How can critically reflecting on my praxis deepen my understanding of anti-racism processes in Australia? ii)How can I document, evaluate and communicate my praxis? I situate the research in a qualitative methodology. I discuss the choice of narrative inquiry, arts-based inquiry and creative action research. I augment this with intuitive inquiry and explore lived experience research of hermeneutic phenomenology and include first-person research. The creative action research is in three stages. The first: a workshop presented to youth work students. The anti-racism radio show is the second stage - this was a collaborative project that involved youth services and a Sydney high school. A series of workshops that included an Aboriginal cultural camp. The third stage is a process that uses drama and peer teaching. The process involved reframing racism as cross cultural conflict and used drama based conflict strategies. It led to the idea of an ecology of culture as a way to deal creatively with racism.