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Les dessins de conscience

Awareness Drawings Method and pedagogy

Les méthodes et pédagogies des dessins de conscience

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Published on Thursday, April 03, 2025

Abstract

This call for papers follows the International Conference on Methods and Pedagogies of Awareness Drawing which took place in Paris on 13 and 14 February 2025. We invite you to submit an article for the journal Recherches & Educations as part of a special issue on Awareness Drawing. The dossier will be coordinated by Marie Agostinucci and Lisa Lefèvre. It will be published in 2026.

Announcement

Argument

For over a century, researchers and clinicians have explored the use of drawings to better understand bodily experience. Some of the most well-known examples include Goodenough's drawing of the man (1926) and Palmer's pain charts (1949). Today, these techniques have evolved, integrating a variety of visual materials (Leavy, 2018; Rose, 2014, 2016). This evolution is reflected in the creation of new tools, such as the Body Awareness Chart (ABC) (Danner et al., 2017), and in the contemporary adaptation of pain charts (Bernhoff et al., 2016). Despite these changes, the core objective of drawing remains the same: revealing what cannot always be expressed in words.

In research, McCarthy and Muthuri (2018) highlight the potential of drawings as a participatory research method. They enhance meaningful participation by capturing individuals' feelings and opinions on sensitive topics (p. 158). These methods generate visual data that support participants' discourse while simultaneously diversifying the analytic material available to researchers (Leavy, 2018; Rose, 2014, 2016). Moreover, drawings facilitate access to embodied knowledge and experiences that may be difficult to articulate through verbal language alone (Leavy, 2018; Toraldo, Islam, & Mangia, 2018).

Produced in the first person, drawings reveal the interaction between the living and the lived body (Andrieu, 2018, 2023). This living activity (Gusdorf, 157) manifests itself tacitly through inner sensations and emotions. It carries the traces of past experiences, wounds, and traumas. Through drawing, these involuntary expressions of internal, sensitive, and intimate processes take form in colors, lines, and silhouettes. This visual production offers a novel way of perceiving the body, creating an opportunity for individuals to (re)discover their own corporeality.

In the 21st century, what are the uses of consciousness drawing?

This question invites reflection on the contemporary applications of drawings as a research and therapeutic tool. How can visual representations contribute to understanding the subjective and embodied experience? What methodological, ethical, and analytical challenges arise from their use? The exploration of consciousness drawing opens new avenues for interdisciplinary dialogue in fields such as psychology, pedagogy, healthcare, and social sciences.

  • Drawing for understanding bodily experience: How does drawing help to understand this intimate, invisible experience? What are its limitations? Proposals may include detailed methodological comparisons and discussion of the strengths and limitations of different approaches and tools.
  • Educational drawing: Drawing is not always used for assessment purposes, but sometimes to support learning or therapeutic practices (for example, through a portfolio or logbook). In this case, how can drawing support learning? Contributions will provide practical insights into the use of drawing in different contexts.
  • Drawing in research design: How do visual methods shape research findings? What are the methodological principles for collecting and analysing these data (according to the public, practices and position of the researcher)? Participants are encouraged to present case studies that illustrate how drawings have shaped the collection, analysis and interpretation of data. Contributions detailing coding criteria, justifications for methodological choices and necessary adaptations according to research contexts are welcome.
  • Ethical and relational challenges: What are the ethical, methodological and relational challenges in the use of consciousness drawings? Intimate and traumatic experiences are sometimes shared by participants. How should the relationship between the researcher/clinician/trainer and the participant/patient/learner be framed? How can we ensure confidentiality of such data? When interpreting these data, what precautions should be taken? Contributions may address the ethical issues involved in the production and processing of this sensitive information.

About the journal

This journal is open access.

Articles will be peer-reviewed. Submissions will undergo a double blind review and then be submitted to the editorial board.

The journal's website: https://journals.openedition.org/rechercheseducations/

The journal does not have its own platform for depositing articles, so we have created a site for this purpose.

Submission

  • This article may be written in French or English.
  • Each text is approximately 30,000 characters (including spaces).
  • References should be cited according to APA (7 edition) standards .
  • Abstracts should be 250 words with 5 keywords.
  • Figures and tables should be referred to in the text and provided in a separate file.

The issue's arguments, similar to those for the conference, are available on the submission site: https://article-drawing.sciencescall.org

Soumission  sur la plateforme : https://article-drawing.sciencescall.org

by 30 juin 2025

Schedule

  • Dead line for submission (article) : 30th June 2025
  • Reviews : september-october 2025
  • Final version : december 2025
  • Publication : 2026

Scientific committee

  • Lisa Lefèvre, HEP Vaud, Lausanne, lisa.lefevre@unistra.fr
  • Marie Agostinucci, Université de Strasbourg, agostinucci@unistra.fr

Reference

Andrieu, B. (2018). S’activer : L’émersion du corps capacitaire face à la dismose actuelle du monde. Cahiers Sens public, 21-22(1), 57‑74.

Andrieu, B. (2023). Les dessins de conscience : Une théorie du corps circassien. Épure, Éditions et presses universitaires de Reims.

Bernhoff, G., Landén Ludvigsson, M., Peterson, G., Bertilson, B. C., Elf, M., & Peolsson, A. (2016). The pain drawing as an instrument for identifying cervical spine nerve involvement in chronic whiplash-associated disorders. Journal of Pain Research, 9, 397‑404. https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S104747

Danner, U., Avian, A., Macheiner, T., Salchinger, B., Dalkner, N., Fellendorf, F. T., Birner, A., Bengesser, S. A., Platzer, M., Kapfhammer, H.-P., Probst, M., & Reininghaus, E. Z. (2017). “ABC”—The Awareness-Body-Chart : A new tool assessing body awareness. PLOS ONE, 12(10), e0186597. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186597

Goodenough, F. L. (1926). A new approach to the measurement of the intelligence of young children. The Pedagogical Seminary and Journal of Genetic Psychology. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08856559.1926.10532353

Leavy, P. (2017). Handbook of Arts-Based Research. Guilford Publications.

McCarthy, L., & Muthuri, J. N. (2018). Engaging fringe stakeholders in business and society research : Applying visual participatory research methods. Business & Society, 57(1), 131‑173. https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650316675610

Rose, G. (2014). On the relation between ‘visual research methods’ and contemporary visual culture. The Sociological Review, 62(1), 24‑46. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954X.12109

Rose, G. (2022). Visual Methodologies : An Introduction to Researching with Visual Materials.

Toraldo, M. L., Islam, G., & Mangia, G. (2018). Modes of knowing : Video research and the problem of elusive knowledges. Organizational Research Methods, 21(2), 438‑465. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428116657394


Date(s)

  • Monday, June 30, 2025

Keywords

  • méthode, dessin, outil

Contact(s)

  • Marie AGOSTINUCCI
    courriel : agostinucci [at] unistra [dot] fr
  • Lisa LEFEVRE
    courriel : lisa [dot] lefevre [at] hepl [dot] ch

Reference Urls

Information source

  • Lisa LEFEVRE
    courriel : lisa [dot] lefevre [at] hepl [dot] ch

License

CC0-1.0 This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.

To cite this announcement

« Les dessins de conscience », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Thursday, April 03, 2025, https://doi.org/10.58079/13odt

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