Story, storying and storytelling: A reflection on documentary film, music and theatre as creative arts research practice

‘Story’ lifts and carries ‘Voice’ with which we can express what we sense. This thesis is an Autoethnographic reflection that charts theoretical and methodological reasons for ‘harnessing’ my (Gameli Tordzro) Aŋlɔ-Eʋe story, storying and storytelling practices in the making of the film ‘Music Across Borders’, the ‘Ha Orchestra Music Project’ and the ‘Broken World, Broken Word’ devised theatre project. It also covers how this is also established in my participating in and contributing to the development, and production of ‘Vessels 2015’ and ‘Last Dream (On Earth) theatre productions as artistic research. The productions focus on story, expressing the lived experience, and how the value, knowledge, opinion, belief, and culture, within such expression represent ‘voice’. ‘Story’ is how we package and present the lived experience. Thus, ‘story’ and ‘voice’ are linked. I assume a subjective stance and a position within the research as an Aŋlɔ-Eʋe multi-genre storyteller and present my understanding of methods and processes of music-making, film-making and theatre-making in a Ghanaian and an Afro-Scot (and New Scot) diaspora context. I re-activate the idea of decolonization - reclaiming, carrying and lifting ‘voice’ - through storytelling on screen, on stage and in music. It is accepted for ethnographers to be positioned within their text; Patricia Leavy, (Leavy, 2015), and David Inglis with Christopher Thorpe, (Inglis and Thorpe, 2012) describe ways in which people perceive and act upon their social world in the constant process of achieving their sense of reality as social actors. Barrett (Barrett and Bolt, 2007) also draw on materialist Martin Heidegger’s notion of “handleability” to argue that artistic research demonstrates how knowledge is derived from doing and from the senses. I explore Aŋlɔ-Eʋe ways of sense making through story. This artistic inquiry takes the form of the practical making, producing and reflecting on music, film and theatre drawing on Aŋlɔ-Eʋe storytelling traditions. It is an artistic Autoethnographic research, it is generative of material arts, social interaction and transformation on the levels of the individual, the community and cultural capital. This thesis is to be read in conjunction with and as a follow-up to the portfolio of productions attached as the main part of the research

Beyond the WEIRD education system in the age of AI

In this article, we aim to contribute to the ongoing debate on reimagining education systems, their content and underpinning values in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Indeed, twenty-first century education is being transformed into a global network (Dede & Richards, 2020), with new constellations already emerging (Phipps, 2019). From the outset, we analyse the omnipresence of the ‘western’ European tradition across the education systems globally (Bhambra et al., 2018; de Sousa Santos, 2014; Smith, 2012; Mignolo, 2011; Fanon, 2001; wa Thiong’o, 1986; 1969), and its incongruity with the knowledge and values needed for sustainable coexistence in the cyber-physical (hybrid) reality of natural life and AI. To do so, we refer to the work of Henrich et al. (2010, p 29) appearing in Nature, where the authors coined the acronymic pun, ‘WEIRD’, to highlight the education system’s ‘western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic’ origins and ties. We not only use it but also propose to extend it by adding an additional letter, ‘O’, to ‘WEIRDO’ to underline the systems’ growing obsolescent content and values. We propose to reach beyond this WEIRD-ness, shifting the debate from ‘western’ eurocentrism and decolonisation into wider postdiscriminatory and ethically committed approaches and practices, such as SEEDS: smart educational ecosystems of dependence and support. Underlining a gradual emergence of de-centralised and proactive initiatives, SEEDS focus on the ‘motion out of the notion of inclusivity into the concept of embracing’ (Tordzro, 2019a; 2019b; Tordzro, 2018; 2016; Kumordzi et al., 2016), constituting a set of signposts aimed at reconfiguration of the current epistemological, methodological and axiological disbalances into ones directed at harmonious co-existence and loving kindness. SEEDS is consonant with the recent reports of the European Commission (2022, online), emphasising the ‘triple imperative to protect, prepare and transform’, and UNESCO (2021) urging for a new social contract for education in the face of current dangers to humanity and planet Earth. Examples of such educational outlooks already exist, including Ubuntu (Caraccioli & Mungai, 2009), Adinkra (Tordzro, 2019a; 2019b), Afa (Kumordzi et al., 2016), Moana (Hendry & Fitznor, 2012), Hawaiian and Pacific (Herman, 2014), and the First Nations of the American (Pacari, 1996; Deloria, 1970) and Australian continents, each going beyond the WEIRD education system in the age of AI.peer-reviewe

Regenerative Futures: From Global to Local Development in 2032

The ‘Regenerative Futures: From Global to Local Development in 2032’ project was jointly conceived by the Innovation School at Glasgow School of Art and the School of Cancer Sciences at the University of Glasgow. The project partnership involved a community of experts working across both organisations including the University of Glasgow’s Mazumdar-Shaw Advanced Research Centre (ARC). Regenerative Design is about designing for people and the planet from a socio-ecological perspective. It seeks not merely to do less harm, but rather catalyses a positive force that restores, renews or revitalises products, services and systems to foster resilient and equitable futures for people and the planet. The Regenerative Futures project asked the final year BDes Product Design cohort to consider what happens in this landscape ten years from now, where Global Development has evolved to the extent that new forms of regenerative experiences of health, economies and citizenship transform how we interact with each other, with local and global communities, and the world around us. Working with an expert community of practice from the University of Glasgow’s Advanced Research Centre (the project’s partner) and a wider expert group of academic and professional stakeholders, the students, faculty, and experts co-researched, explored and designed speculative future worlds and experiences of regenerative global and local communities and systems leading towards equitable health, economies and citizenship in ten year’s time. In the first part of the project, the student cohort work in six groups to collectively research the brief, exploring the domains of Health, Economies and Citizenship from a Globally-Centred or Locally-Centred perspective. In-depth insights from the first stage fuel individual design work in Part Two. The second part of the project saw individual students select an aspect of their Future World research to develop as a design direction, which they then prototyped and produced as products, services, and/or systems. These are designed for specific communities, contexts or scenarios of use defined by the students to communicate a future experience. The output from this project is curated and presented as a public exhibition. The exhibition resulting from this research project includes products, services and experiences designed for the people who might live and work within these future contexts. Each ‘future world’ is situated within a discrete design domain: Health (Global + Local), Economies (Global + Local) and Citizenship (Global + Local). Exhibition dates: Tuesday 7th to Friday 10th February, 2023 Venue: Advanced Research Centre, University of Glasgow The deposited materials are arranged as follows: 1 - Regenerative Futures Project Brief. The Project Brief is developed as rationale, context and a guide to the project. 2 - Regenerative Futures Project Exhibition Guide. The Guide catalogues and describes the exhibits presented in the show. It takes you through each ‘Future World’ experience created by the students. It complements the videos and images presented in companion sections. 3 - Videos of the Regenerative Futures Exhibition. Here you will find short videos documenting the set-up of the exhibition and the exhibition itself. 4 - Images of the Regenerative Futures Exhibition. This section documents the Exhibition in images. 5 - Images of Studio Life. This section documents in images, the co-creation studio sessions with experts and the studio development of the show exhibits. 6 - Exhibition guides for each individual World View. These guides take you through each individual ‘Future World’; Health (Global + Local), Economies (Global + Local) and Citizenship (Global + Local)

Ha Orchestra

No abstract available

Ha Orchestra

No abstract available

Azorli Blewu: Ha Orchestra

No abstract available

Azorli Blewu: Ha Orchestra

No abstract available

Obaa Sima

A Glasgow Museum Commission on Naa Densua Tordzro's Fashion design and make of a Ghanaian Kete Wedding Gown. The short film explores the idea of the connections between Ghana and Scotland and how fashion and textile can be seen as the bridge by which those connections can be lived and experienced. Gameli's 5 minute short documents his wife's work linking it to the sights and sounds of Scotland and Ghana with his music composition and recording of Azorli Blewu and Desert Rain. Glasgow 2017

Mazungumzo Ya Shairi

No abstract available

Music Across Borders

Music Across Borders is a new documentary film created and directed by Gameli Tordzro on how music crosses various borders. It responds today’s global migration debates and explores musicians’ view on how they and their musical encounters negotiate some of these borders and reach people across the world. In the film, Danish Jazz musician and composer Katrine Suwalski speaks in English and about her musical journey in Ghana and her return twenty years later to Ghana in 2015 with her Jazz Band Another world and their collaboration with Ghanaian musicians Tina Mensah popularly known as Elivava and Odomankoma Okyrema Pra. The film which was shot in Ghana, Denmark and Scotland, explores the musicality of language and treats music as language that. The film and its screening events are a part of Gameli’s PhD research on Creative Arts and Translating Cultures on the multi sited Researching Multilingually At The Borders of Language, The Body Law and The State (RM Borders) project at the University of Glasgow School of Education. RM Borders is one of the three UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Translating Cultures Theme Large Grant projects. RM Borders is a 3-year research collaboration between seven academic institutions in Europe, the Middle East and the UK, and third sector organisations. It has a team in international researchers and creative arts practitioners from a wide range of interdisciplinary backgrounds and research experience researching with multiple languages at multiple sites