Introduction: Arts-based methods for decolonising participatory research

Academic knowledge production is going through significant changes, and its very foundations are contested from increasingly many perspectives. On the one hand, academic research has suffered from a legitimacy crisis in the so-called ‘post-truth era’, which has transformed the meaning of ‘truth’ and shaken the position of scientific knowledge in society. On the other hand, within academia itself, a wide range of epistemological criticisms stemming from various critical approaches have emerged and are challenging conventional forms of academic knowledge production, along with its ethical premises and value base. Calls for more participatory, inclusive and democratic research practices have become widespread.