RIH Interdisciplinary Reading Group “Poetics of Response-ability” Talk Series

Speaker: Professor Gregg Bucken-Knapp, University of Gothenburg (Sweden)

Date & Time: (Mon) Dec 9, 2024. 11am-1pm

Location: E-ZONE, 3/F Fung King Hey Building, CUHK

Registration link: https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/mycuform/view.php?id=2967253

About the speaker: 

Gregg Bucken-Knapp is Professor in public administration. His research interests are migration and integration in a broad policy and administrative context and arts-based research methods. His latest book, Messages from Ukraine, is a graphic novel depicting the diverse experiences of Ukrainians during the Russian invasion, including those displaced, involved in the war effort, observing from abroad, or trapped in besieged cities.

About the event:

In this talk, Prof. Bucken-Knapp will explore how three arts-based methods—comics, serious board games, and collaborative zines—can serve as research tools for personal reflection among researchers and participants, as well as a strategy to reach new audiences.

Messages from Ukraine interprets text messages from Ukrainian colleagues sent in the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion in comic form, highlighting themes of forced displacement through everyday war experiences.

At The Crossroads is a collaboratively designed serious game in which Ukrainian refugees share their stories of displacement at home and abroad through a simple board game that focuses on the challenges faced by those who fled.

Lastly, he will showcase three recent zine projects: 1) workplace challenges for migration professionals in Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans; 2) how these professionals respond to media misrepresentation; and 3) how Thai performing arts students translate social commentary from performances into print. Each project emphasizes learning by doing and highlights the affordances of arts-based research as a tool to foster understanding and engage audiences.