(AHRC/GCRF). The project aims at the creation of a media archive which, presented in a form of an interactive installation, collects and preserves the memories and intangible cultural practices of a small coastal community near Mombasa, Kenya. The driving assumption is that “the organisation of space is a cultural representation—and it is through this representation that the individual constructs both herself/himself and her/his image of the world” (Moore, 1986:120). Therefore, this archive will help to develop a role for the creative analysis of data as an aid to understanding how the community could shape policy development and environmental decision-making. The main research method is a community-based participatory research which will refer to cooperative inquiry methods (Co-inquiry).
CoaAST (Coastal Aural archive of Spaces & Time) is a project funded by “Rising From the Depths” It draws on ideas of co-inquiry (Heron & Reason, 2006), defined as research with people rather than research on people. Knowledge gained through a participatory approach explore local knowledge and perception, enhance the research aims aligning them with what the community perceive as goal (Israel at al. 2001), empowers the community by considering them as agents who can investigate and make actions regardless their own local reality (Webb, 1990). Using participatory methods, we are working with educators and children to seek out evidence of what the community core values are and how these are connected to their environment. CoaAST will involve two local schools, and will resonate with the local community as a ludic-critical practice.