Research: Social haunting and ghost labs
A group of projects that use arts-based participatory research to investigate how past conflicts haunt the present and futures of ex-coalfield communities.
Research summary
Research area summary
The Social Haunting research area looks at how a history of conflict and social violence affects communities - how they think about their past, present and future and the consequences for the lives of local residents.
It uses the idea of a ‘social haunting’ - feeling the continued presence of the past - to register and amplify community concerns and renew future thinking.
Mainly based in former coalfields in the UK, this is a research partnership that brings together working-class residents with academics, activists, artists, musicians and community partners such as the Co-operative College and Unite Community.
Through ‘ghost lab’ workshops the partnership has studied the 1984-85 miners’ strike and de-industrialisation of the coalfields - attempting to understand how such events remain hidden in plain sight in the daily life of communities, not only as collective traumas but also as recoverable resources of hope.
Quote
The Ghost Labs… have made accessible to ordinary communities sophisticated theoretical and historical knowledge without sacrificing any complexity. The result has been a model of community engaged participatory research.
Ghost labs
What’s a ghost lab?
A ghost lab is a workshop that involves members of a local community examining personal and social aspects of their past, present and future.
The sessions are designed to celebrate the communities taking part - recognising the traumatic effects of de-industrialisation and supporting participants in telling their stories.
Activities aim to be playful and fun, including:
- community Tarot readings
- discussing ‘haunted’ objects
- going on ghost hunting walks
- performing instant playback theatre
- writing co-operative poetry
- creating comic strips and songs
The haunting / ghost theme makes it easier to talk about issues and events that might otherwise prove impossible to document.
Projects
Research outputs
Publications
- Bright, N.G (2020) Feeling, Re-imagined in Common: Working with Social Haunting in the English Coalfields in Fazio, M., Launius, C. and Strangleman, T. (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Working Class Studies Routledge
- McNicol, S. (2017) “We can do it imaginatively first!”: Creating a magic circle in a radical community education setting Studies in the Education of Adults, 49, pp45-61
Website
- www.socialhaunting.com collects stories from this research area.
Research team
Research team
Lead researcher
Research associates
- Dr Sarah McNicol
- Andrew McMillan
- Dr Angela Connelly, University of Manchester
- Dr Toby Pillat, University of York
Community investigators, partners and creative practitioners are listed on socialhaunting.com
Funding
With funding from
Arts & Humanities Research council
Connected Communities
Contact
Contact us
For general enquiries about the Education and Social Research Institute’s youth and community group, you can contact research lead Prof Gabrielle Ivinson.