"Sewing Is Part of Our Tradition": A Case Study of Sewing as a Strategy for Arts-Based Inquiry in Health Research With Inuit Women. (December 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Brubacher, Laura Jane; Dewey, Cate E.; Tatty, Naomi; Healey Akearok, Gwen K.; Cunsolo, Ashlee; Humphries, Sally; Harper, Sherilee L.
• Is Part Of: Qualitative health research. Volume 31:Number 14(2021)
• Page Start: 2602
• Page End: 2616
• Publication Date: 2021-12
• Subjects: arts-based research -- qualitative health research -- Inuit -- Nunavut -- sewing; Health -- Periodicals; Health behavior -- Periodicals; Health -- Research -- Methodology -- Periodicals; Health behavior -- Research -- Methodology -- Periodicals; 610.7205
• DOI: 10.1177/10497323211042869
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1049-7323

Abstract

In this article, we present a case study of sewing as a strategy for arts-based inquiry in health research, situated within a broader project that highlighted Nunavut Inuit women's childbirth experiences. Five focus groups were hosted as sewing sessions with pregnant women ( N = 19) in Iqaluit, Nunavut (2017–2018). Women's reflections on the sessions, and the significance of sewing to Inuit, were integrated with researchers' critical reflections to examine the value of sewing as a strategy for arts-based inquiry within a focus group method: results related to the flexibility of the sessions; how collective sewing created space for voicing, sharing, and relating; sewing as a tactile and place-specific practice tied to Inuit knowledge and tradition; and lessons learned. Our results underscore the possibilities of arts-based approaches, such as sewing, to enhance data gathering within a focus group method and to contribute to more locally appropriate, place-based methods for Indigenous health research.