Courageous research

the long version

The traditional thesis does not always fit the work of the creative and the interdisciplinary disciplines. Creative and interdisciplinary research students are at the forefront of creating a new genre which includes the exegesis and which pushes the heartfelt, subjective experience to be accepted as part of academic discourse. The real researcher does not arrive, argues Martin, until research is heartfelt and one cares so much that nothing but the truth of the situation will be tolerated. The researchers in this broad ranging collection cover topics including an experience of life-threatening illness, a history of suicidality and release through spirituality, the practice of self-portraiture by women artists, an idiom for describing dance, the sounds of Australian Rules football, effects of space and subjectivity in saunas, engaging youth in activities to improve their own lives and that of their community and finally, ethical decision making in a large public health organisation.