Embracing the Messy Complexities of Co-Creation

Book excerpt: Co-creation in participatory, qualitative research has become commonplace. It supports a myriad of collaborative practices – from service-user involvement in health and social care, to community capacity-building, to bottom-up climate change projects. With its democratic ambitions, transformative power and (in some contexts) goals of social justice, co-creation has much to offer, particularly in these challenging times... but it is also complex and full of tensions. This book offers an approach which recognises - and embraces - the messy complexities of co-creation. The approach is constructive – it revolves around creating openings for multiple voices; and, in particular, the voices of people with lived experience. And it is critical – it involves integrating critical, reflexive analyses of the intrinsic tensions in co-creation into the practice of research. The book brings participatory research into dialogue with poststructuralist, social constructionist and new materialist, posthumanist strands of qualitative inquiry. In an engaging and accessible way, the author weaves together personal storytelling and more detached analysis to illustrate her approach to producing and communicating knowledge as intertwined processes. The book is written for all students and researchers with an interest in collaborative research practice.