BURA Collection:

Mechanisms of Art for Social Art Therapy

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Title: Mechanisms of Art for Social Art Therapy Authors: Huss, Ephrat; Havsteen-Franklin, Dominik Abstract: In our current turbulent social climate, with climate change, wars, political upheaval, and migration, social problems become central issues for many of clients. This theoretical paper offers a method of understanding art in art therapy through social theories providing four inherent mechanisms of art that are connected to social theories. These mechanisms include: using art to explore phenomenological experience of social context; using art to integrate subjective experience within social background; using art as mapping our social reality; using art as mediating communication within a system. Each of these mechanisms is illustrated with examples from the author’s previous publications. Appropriate social settings are also outlined. This paper will contribute to art therapists’ ability to use art through social lense within their art therapy practice in long-term crises. It presents how to use art mechanisms to help a family, group, or community, and manage the constant shifts, from homeostasis to change, that crisis demands. Description: A Croatian language version of the article is available at: https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/473194 .

‘The Best-regarded Virgins of Our Clime’: Unseen Black Women, Race, and the Construction of White Femininity in The Merchant of Venice

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Title: ‘The Best-regarded Virgins of Our Clime’: Unseen Black Women, Race, and the Construction of White Femininity in The Merchant of Venice Authors: Sheeha, Iman Abstract: Using the tools of premodern critical race studies and whiteness studies, this article brings to critical visibility the Black women Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice evokes in passing, only to leave them on the margins of the text. Unseen and unheard, those women's alleged preferences in romantic partners are reported second-hand by the Prince of Morocco. It has become something of a critical and theatrical tradition to interpret this moment as revealing his alleged lustfulness, thus indulging in a sensational (and Orientalist) reading of him and them. I challenge this reading, proposing, instead, that the Prince's evocation of his countrywomen should be inserted within the play's (and early modern England's) larger investment in the construction of white femininity and the attendant fashioning of an emerging national white identity. The Moroccan virgins, I argue, are one strategy the Prince adopts to signal his proximity to patriarchal whiteness by announcing to his audience both on- and offstage his subscription to the gendered, white values which elevate white women at the expense of Black women. A white man's fantasy of a Black man, the Prince of Morocco deploys Black women as a tool to elevate white femininity and to announce his assimilability into Portia's white world.

The Ceuta border incident shows how EU migration can be ‘weaponised’ – but overall levels are declining

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Title: The Ceuta border incident shows how EU migration can be ‘weaponised’ – but overall levels are declining Authors: Rosina, Matilde Abstract: It took one night in Ceuta to end a relatively quiet summer on Europe’s southern border. Over 70,000 people entered the Spanish enclave from Morocco between July 30 and 31, most of them swimming around the heavily guarded border fences. ...

The Neurodivergent Musician: A Methodology Report on A Participatory Action Research Study

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Title: The Neurodivergent Musician: A Methodology Report on A Participatory Action Research Study Authors: Détári, Anna; Dawson, Georgia; Ballam, Lydia; Chapman, Alex; Redelinghys, James; Baines, Emily; Furniss, Pete; Hugill, Andrew; Heaton, Pamela Abstract: According to estimates, the prevalence of various forms of neurodivergence is much higher among musicians than in the general population. Despite this fact, we know very little about the lived experiences of neurodivergent (ND) musicians in professional settings, such as educational institutions and places of employment. The lack of information leads to a lack of understanding, appropriate support, and inclusion of ND personnel in these spaces; therefore, it is crucial to gather accurate information directly from the population. A Participatory Action Research (PAR) study was planned and organised by ND musicians, which consisted of an in-person event and online follow-up conversations, where members of the community (ND musicians, music educators, music researchers, and neurotypical allies) were invited to discuss various aspects of their vocational education and professional lives. In alignment with the guiding principles of PAR, all participants were invited to contribute to the outputs to ensure their autonomy and utilise their unique expertise to the fullest. Given the quantity and richness of the data and the limited space, detailed discussions about the findings will be published separately. Here, we opted to focus on the methodological approach and procedure to provide a template for using PAR with adult ND communities.