Ten Incitements to Rebellion: Spoken Word as a Social Scientific Research Tool of, and for, Rebellious Research

For many, the arts and sciences stand at opposite ends of an unbridgeable divide: the sciences, rigid, objective, systematic and authoritative; the arts, fluid, subjective, dynamic and capricious. Yet, there are multiple points of interconnection between these fields. Arts-based research represents a particularly fertile form of arts/science interaction. This chapter interweaves creative writing, poetry, theoretical discussion and empirical research to make the case for spoken word poetry as an arts-based method of inquiry that can provide a radically different way of doing, being and collaborating in, and through, research. With reference to the innovative method of ‘collaborative poetics’ and to the work of youth slam/spoken word educators, I argue that social scientists and spoken word practitioners can learn much from one another’s tools, techniques and ways of thinking, creating new forms of knowledge, redefining the relationships between audience, author and participants, and facilitating a ‘critical resilience’ which enables both individual fortitude in the face of adversity and a means through which to challenge the conditions which give rise to this adversity. I frame this methodological approach as an act of rebellion for participants, researchers and artists alike, considering how spoken word as poetic inquiry enables us to address the critical complexities and challenges of contemporary life, and what this means for the status of both the arts and social sciences.