Occupational narratives, community publishing and worker writing groups

Authors

  • Nick Pollard

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1921/gpwk.v20i1.689

Keywords:

<i>writing groups</i>, <i>community publishing</i>, <i>working-class writing</i>, <i>literacy</i>, <i>cultural politics</i>, <i>groupwork</i>

Abstract

Many different kinds of groups are spontaneously developed through community based activities. Some of these groups may contribute to the life and culture of a particular locality for years but can easily be overlooked because their activity is largely unknown, sustained along the margins of mainstream culture. Informal and organic structures, very local organisation and the ephemeral nature of the materials which record their actions, contribute to their lack of visibility. Some examples are to be found amongst the groups which belong to writers group networks. This article, which is based on focus group interviews with members of worker writing and community based publishing organisations, explores how such groups organise, maintain themselves, and meet the challenges which arise from their marginalisation.

References

Abel, B., Clarke, M., and Parks, S. (2008) The Transatlantic Fed: from individual stories of disability to collective action. in N. Pollard, D. Sakellariou, and F. Kronenberg (Eds.), <i>A Political Practice of Occupational Therapy</i>. Edinburgh: Elsevier Science (pp. 175–181) <a target="_blank" href='http://www.caribbeanstudies.org. uk/papers/vol1.htm'>http://www.caribbeanstudies.org.uk/papers/vol1.htm)</a>\nBloor, M. (1998) Addressing social problems through qualitative research. in D Silverman (Ed.) <i>Qualitative Research: Theory, method and practice</i>. London: Sage (pp. 221–238)\nBromley, R. (1988) <i>Lost Narratives, Popular Fictions, Politics and Recent History</i>. London: Routledge\nChaston, D., Pollard, N., and Jubb, D. (2004) Young onset of dementia: A case for real empowerment, <i>Journal of Dementia Care</i>, 12, 6, 24–6\nClandinin, D.J. and Connelly, F.M. (1998) Personal experience methods. in N.K. Denzin and Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.) <i>Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials</i>. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage (pp. 150–178)\nCourtman, S. (2000) Frierian liberation, Cultural transaction and writing from ‘the working class and the spades’. <i>The Society for Caribbean Studies Annual Conference Papers</i> (accessed 15.10.08 at http://www.caribbeanstudies.org.uk/papers/vol1.htm)\nCourtman, S. (2007) ‘Culture is ordinary’: The legacy of the Scottie Road and Liverpool 8 Writers. in M. Murphy and D. Rees-Jones (Eds.) <i>Writing Liverpool: Essays and interviews</i>. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press (pp. 194–209)\nDeSouza, S., Gould, A., and Rebeiro-Gruhl, K.L. (2005) And then I lost that life: A shared narrative of four young men with schizophrenia. <i>British Journal of Occupational Therapy</i>, 68, 10, 467–473\nDetweiler J. and Peyton, C. (1999) Defining occupations: A chronotypic study of narrative genres in a health discipline’s emergence. <i>Written Communication</i>, 16, 412–468\nDunlap, L. (2007) <i>Undoing the Silence: Six tools for social change writing</i>. Oakland CA: New Village Press\nFreire, P. (1972) <i>The Pedagogy of the Oppressed</i>. Harmondsworth: Penguin\nFWWCP (1985) <i>Once I Was a Washing Machine</i>. London: FWWCP\nGoldblatt, E. (2007) <i>Because We Live Here: Sponsoring literacy beyond the college curriculum</i>. Creskill NJ: Hampton Press\nGramsci, A. (1971) <i>Selections from the Prison Notebooks</i>. Edited and translated by Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell-Smith. London: Lawrence and Wishart\nGriffiths, S. (2007) The experience of creative activity as a treatment medium, <i>Journal of Mental Health</i>. 17, 49–63\nIkiugu M, and Pollard N (In press) <i>Meaningful Living through Occupation</i>. Sudbury MA: Jones & Bartlett\nJanis I.L. (1982) <i>Groupthink</i>. (2nd ed.) Boston: Houghton Mifflin\nJubb, D., Pollard, N., and Chaston, D. (2003) Developing services for younger people with dementia, <i>Nursing Times</i>, 99, 22, 34–35\nKrueger, R.A. (1994) <i>Focus Groups, A practical guide for applied research</i>. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage\nLandry, D. (1990) <i>The Muses of Resistance</i> Cambridge: Cambridge University Press\nLorenzo, T., Sanders, L., January, M., Mdlokolo, P. (2002) <i>On the Road of Hope: Stories by diabled women in Khayelitsa</i>. Cape Town: Disabled People South Africa, Zanepilo Disability Project, University of Cape Town\nLorenzo, T. (2003) No African renaissance without disabled women: a communal approach to human development in Cape Town, South Africa. <i>Disability and Society</i>, 18, 6, 759–778\nLorenzo, T. (2004) Equalizing opportunities for occupational engagement: disabled women’s stories. in R. Watson and L. Swartz (Eds.) <i>Transformation through Occupation</i>. London: Whurr (pp. 85–102)\nMcCauley, C. (1989) The nature of social influence in groupthink: compliance and internalization. <i>Journal of Personality and Social Psychology</i>. 57, 2, 250–240\nMcNulty, C. (2008) The Sleaford MACA Group. in N. Pollard, D. Sakellariou, and F. Kronenberg (Eds.), <i>A Political Practice of Occupational Therapy</i>. Edinburgh: Elsevier Science: (pp. 171–174)\nMaidment, J. and Macfarlane, S. (2009) Craft groups: Sites of friendship, empowerment, belonging and learning for older women. <i>Groupwork</i>, 19, 1, 10–25\nMattingly, C. (1998) <i>Healing Dramas and Clinical Plots: The narrative structure of experience</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press\nMorley, D. and Worpole, K. (Eds.) (1982) <i>The Republic of Letters</i>. London: Comedia\nMorley, D., Worpole, K., and Pollard, N. (2009) Class identity and the republics of letters. in D. Morley and K. Worpole (Eds.) <i>The Republic of Letters</i>. (2nd ed.) Philadelphia: New Cities Community Press/Syracuse University Press (pp. 223–244)\nO’Neal, G.S. (2006) Using multicultural resources in groups. <i>Groupwork</i>,. 16, 1, 48–68\nO’Rourke R (2005) <i>Creative Writing: Education, culture and community</i>. Leicester: NIACE\nParks, S. and Pollard, N. (2009) The extra-curricular of composition: A dialogue on community publishing. <i>Community Literacy Journal</i>, 3, 2, 53–77\nPollard, N. (2001) <i>Could Occupational Therapy Activities Chosen for Psychiatric Rehabilitation Produce a Community Experience in which Service Users attain Citizenship, Autonomy and the Capacity for Self -Representation?</i> Unpublished MSc thesis. Sheffield Hallam University\nPollard N. and Bryer M. (2002) Community publishing and rehabilitation: Stories of ordinary lives. <i>RED Journal</i> (Doncaster and South Humber Healthcare NHS Trust), Winter 6–10\nPollard, N. (2003) DIY publishing part 1. <i>Federation</i>, 26, 27–30\nPollard, N. (2004a) Notes towards an approach for the therapeutic use of creative writing in occupational therapy. in F. Sampson (Ed.) <i>Creative Writing in Health and Social Care</i>. London: Jessica Kingsley (pp. 189–206)\nPollard, N. (2004b) DIY publishing part 2, <i>Federation</i>, 27, 28–29\nPollard, N. (2004c) DIY publishing part 3, <i>Federation</i>, 28, 27–30\nPollard, N., Smart, P., and Voices Talk and Hands Write (2005) Voices Talk and Hands Write. in F. Kronenberg, S. Simo Algado, and N.Pollard (Eds.) <i>Occupational Therapy Without Borders: Learning from the spirit of survivors</i>. Edinburgh: Elsevier Science (pp. 287–301)\nPollard, N. (2007) Voices Talk, Hands Write: sustaining community publishing with people with learning difficulties, <i>Groupwork</i>, 17, 2, 36–56\nPollard, N., Voices Talk, Hands Write (2008) Voices Talk, Hands Write. in E. Crepeau, E. Cohn, and B. Boyt Schell (Eds.) <i>Willard and Spackman’s Occupational Therapy</i>. (11th ed.) Philadelphia: Lipincott, Williams and Wilkins (pp. 139–145)\nPollard N. and Clayton L. (in press) Narratives in the community: Working with service users and survivors. in M Molineux (Ed.) <i>Narratives of Occupation</i>. Oxford: Blackwell\nPollard, N. and Kronenberg, F. (2008) Working with people on the margins. in J. Creek and L. Lougher (Eds.), <i>Occupational Therapy in Mental Health</i> (4<sup>th</sup> ed.) Oxford: Elsevier Science, (pp. 557–577)\nPollard. N. and Parks, S. (in press) Community publishing: occupational narratives and ‘local publics’. in F. Kronenberg, N. Pollard, and D. Sakellariou (Eds.) <i>Occupational Therapies without Borders</i>. Edinburgh: Elsevier/Churchill Livingstone\nPollard, N., Sakellariou, D., and Kronenberg, F. (2008) (Eds.) <i>A Political Practice of Occupational Therapy</i>. Edinburgh: Elsevier Science\nPollard, N., Sakellariou, D., and Kronenberg, F. (2009) Community development. in M. Molineux, M. Curtin, and J. Supyk (Eds.) <i>Occupational Therapy in Physical Dysfunction</i>. (6th ed.), Oxford, Elsevier Science (pp. 267–280)\nRobotham, D. (2008) From groups to virtual teams. <i>Groupwork</i>, 18, 2, 41–57\nSchmid, T. (2005) Promoting health through creativity: An introduction. in T Schmid (Ed.) <i>Promoting Health through Creativity, for Professionals in Health Arts and Education</i>. London: Whurr (pp. 1–26)\nSilverman, D. (1993) <i>Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for analysing talk, text and interaction</i>. London: Sage\nSingh, P. (2008) Groupwork in multicultural classrooms: A South African case study. <i>Groupwork</i>, 17, 3, 43–59\nSmart, P. (2005) A beginner writer is not a beginner thinker. in F. Kronenberg, S. Simo Algado, and N. Pollard (Eds.) <i>Occupational Therapy without Borders: Learning from the spirit of survivors</i>. Edinburgh: Elsevier/Churchill Livingstone, (pp. 47–54)\nSmart, P., Frost, G., Nugent. P., and Pollard, N. (in press) Pecket Learning Community: Where the stem of knowledge blossoms. in F. Kronenberg, N. Pollard, and D. Sakellariou (Eds.) <i>Occupational Therapy without Borders</i>. Edinburgh: Elsevier/Churchill Livingstone\nStrauss, A. and Corbin, J. (1998) <i>Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory</i>. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage\nTait, V. (2005) <i>Poor Workers’ Unions: Rebuilding labor from below</i>. Cambridge MA: South End Press\nTrevithick, P. (2005) The knowledge base of groupwork and its importance within social work. <i>Groupwork</i>, 15, 2, 80–107\nVincent, D. (1981) <i>Bread, Knowledge and Freedom: A study of ninteenth-century working class autobiography</i>. London: Europa Publications\nWilcock, A.A. (2002) <i>A Journey from Prescription to Self Health. Occupation for Health, vol 2</i>. London: British Association and College of Occupational Therapy\nWoodin, T. (2005a) Building culture from the bottom up: The educational origins of the Federation of Worker Writers and Community Publishers. <i>History of Education</i>, 34, 345–363\nWoodin, T. (2005b) ‘More writing than welding’: Learning in worker writer groups, <i>History of Education</i> 39, 5, 551–567\nWoodin, T. (2005c) Muddying the waters: Class and identity in a working-class cultural organisation. <i>Sociology</i>, 39, 5, 1001–1018\nWoodin, T. (2007) ‘Chuck out the teacher:’ Radical pedagogy in the community. <i>International Journal of Lifelong Education</i>, 26, 1, 89–104\nWoodin, T. (2008) ‘A beginner reader is not a beginner thinker’: Student publishing in Britain since the 1970s, <i>Pedagogica Historica</i>, 44, 1/2, 219–232\nWoodin, T. (2009) Working-class writing, alternative publishing and audience participation. <i>Media Culture Society</i>, 31, 1, 79–96\nWorpole, K. (1983) <i>Dockers and Detectives</i>. London: Verso\n

Downloads

Published

2012-12-20

How to Cite

Pollard, N. (2012). Occupational narratives, community publishing and worker writing groups. Groupwork, 20(1), 9-33. https://doi.org/10.1921/gpwk.v20i1.689

Issue

Section

Articles