Staging Sociology: Intimate Relations in the Loneliest Country in the World
The aim of the project "Staging Sociology" is to strengthen and renew research communication and dialogue with the public through a research-based theater play. The project will be carried out in collaboration with play-writer and director Paula Stenström Öhman and the theater group Lumor. Departing from the ongoing research project "Intimate Sociality" (financed by the Swedish Research Council), the objective is to jointly create a production that, in an innovative fashion, mediates sociological queries and research to a broader audience.
Final report
Final report
Staging sociology:
Intimate relations in the loneliest country in the world
Project aim and development
The aim with the project has been to communicate results on intimacy and solidarity in contemporary Sweden departing from the on-going research project ‘Intimate sociality’ (financed by Vetenskapsrådet dnr 421-2014-1465). Our ambition has been to create a kaleidoscopic theater play reflecting a deeply human need and people’s various ways of living and experiencing it. One point of departure is that questions concerning intimacy suit the multi-sensorial expressions of the theatrical stage. In standard social science publications individual voices are often downplayed in favor of generalizing descriptions. By staging themes from the research we wished to mediate insights in a more direct manner that would more easily affect people outside academia and inspire them to reflect further on intimacy. The idea has been that sound, light and décor – together with the actors’ embodiment of sociological ideas transformed into a play script – would help bring the audience to the environments that the research project explores and to create an emotional involvement with the themes.
The theater project has implied a possibility for us, the researchers, to work on our questions and themes in new ways. The dramatization of research voices, both empirical and theoretical, has offered a new lens to explore complex relations. A new intimacy has emerged, not only between different parts of our research project but more generally between research, theater and audience. To sum up, the communication project has created a mutual exchange of knowledge in which several actors and arenas, other than research based, have been involved.
Realization, ethics and examination
Realizing the project
In order to keep and accentuate the rhythm, humor and gravity involved in the research material, we had to find a play writer who could handle a documentary material and create an artistically independent product. The research group decided to introduce a dialogue with play writer and director Paula Stenström Öhman renowned for her documentary way of working (involving interviews and participant observations) and for creating theater plays that strongly affect the audience and the deal with highly relevant social questions of our time.
The budget was primarily aimed for the process of script writing. Through on-going consultation with the research group, Stenström Öhman (SÖ) has processed published articles, unpublished papers and parts of non-identifiable interview extracts and field notes and has created the dramatic stand-alone piece Ocean. The researchers have contributed with background information and continuous feedback throughout the process, although SÖ is responsible for the final product. It was difficult to interweave all case studies, instead SÖ focused on the material on cohousing (SÖ and Törnqvist also made two interviews together) and support groups for sex addicts. However, SÖ did take the broader theoretical framework of the research project into account and brought in insights on grief and loss from Redmalm’s work.
Early on in the process, SÖ established contact with Unga Klara, since January 2018 national stage for young people and children. It was decided that the play would be launched sometime during the spring 2018. 8 of January, a collation meeting was organized, bringing all parts of the team together (actors, light, sound, producer, VD) to go over the script for the first time. During the collation, as well as two repetitions, represents from the research team were present. We also carried out discussions about the research project with the ensemble and director, in which we also talked about their experiences during the repetitions and their views on the themes. On March 15 all of Stockholm was painted in green. The beautiful ocean-green poster adorned many of the main streets and the play was launched in front of an excited audience. The play was positively reviewed in the large Swedish newspapers, including SvD, DN and Expressen.
Ocean has been performed forty times during a two months long period. It was shown both at day and night. In total 2 705 people, including 35 schools, have watched it. Of these, 1 401 are classified as young people, 1 190 adults and 114 seniors. The pitch towards schools and a young audience made Unga Klara involve a theater pedagogue who developed a teacher’s guide to help teachers use Ocean in education after their classes had watched the play. Focus was on norms and expectations bound to intimacy (Redmalm met the pedagogue to discuss the process, 22/5 2018).
After one of the performances we organized a panel with us (Redmalm and Törnqvist) and the playwriter and director SÖ at Unga Klara. Questions related to intimacy as well as cooperative work between theater and research was discussed (10/4 2018). The research group also contributed with an essay for the program in which our research is discussed and put in dialogue with the play (‘Intimate moments’). In addition, we have, in corporation with Unga Klara, collected intimate stories from the audience. At every performance the audience has been informed and encouraged to share their personal stories. Around one hundred accounts have been handled in (a box at the entrance was made for the purpose), and will serve for a separate publication.
Ethical guidelines
The ethical guidelines from the Research council (Vetenskapsrådet) have been taken into account and imply anonymous handling of interviews as to not let any informants be identifiable. The informants have been informed that their participation may result in artistic work, such as theater plays. One part of the budget was for the research group members, partly for ethical reasons, in order to secure that results and material were carefully acted upon and in line with research ethical proposals. The final play script is mostly fictional and only loosely builds on the original material. In order to secure this, an ethical based contract was signed between the research group and SÖ.
Examining the project
The project group has carried out an examining discussion with three external researchers: Ph d Anna Adeniji, lecturer in gender, Södertörn, Assistant professor Stina Bergman Blix, lecturer in sociology, Uppsala university and Assistant professor Anna Lund, lecturer in sociology, Stockholm university. They were selected due to their expertise in joint projects between research/cultural art fields/civil society (Adeniji) and research expertise on the artistic field of theater (Bergman Blix and Lund). The tree researchers have watched the play, two of them also listened to the panel between SÖ, Redmalm and Törnqvist (10/4 2018). In the shape of a critical and open conversation with us (Redmalm and Törnqvist) we discussed benefits and challenges, the realization process and insights to bring forward into coming cooperative projects (22/5 2018).
Experience and knowledge
Only one of us in the research group had previous experience from close cooperation with the stage art (Redmalm). This made the communication project very rich in new knowledge but also challenging. The cooperation with SÖ was characterized by constant discussions in order to find the right frames for participation and compromises. How free should the artist be in relation to the research project? What works on stage? And how not to be too explicit and overtly pedagogic while communicating ones research? Such questions were dealt with during the script work and also when writing the program essay. In a review in SvD (17/3 2018) Ylva Lagercrantz commented on this part of the project and claimed that the cooperation between artist and researcher risks resulting in ‘didactic utility-theater for school-children’. However, Lagercrantz was clear to stress that the play avoided this partly because it so lively reflected on different forms and perspectives on intimacy and the paradoxes of close relations.
These experiences have made the communication project an immensely enrichening knowledge process. Some experiences to share is, firstly, the importance of clarity. We wrote a contract in regard to research ethics but would have been helped by clarifying also expectations around other parts of the cooperative process. However, it is uncertain if we would have had as interesting conversations about the relation between research and art if the boundaries had been more firm from the beginning. We may say that we learned about these borders bodily, by lived experience, instead of through verbal desk-intense discussions. Another insight regards who you formally cooperate with. We chose to contact a play writer and director who, in turn, contacted an artistic institution (Unga Klara). An alternative, with possibly more firm and clearer rules would have been to invite an institution who, in turn, would have contacted a suitable play writer and director. The large institutions are more experienced when it comes to cooperation with researchers and already have a discussion going on everything from practical matters to ethical concerns and juridical copyright issues. A benefit with cooperating with SÖ, a well-known and well established play writer and director, was that we were familiar with her earlier plays and her way of working and thereby could foresee that her style would go well in hand with our research project.
Web-pages and publications
Reviews of the play:
Expressen, Maria Edström
DN, Pia Huss
SvD, Ylva Lagercrantz
Scenkonstguiden, Erika Ingelsson
Arbetaren, Isabel Lind
Interview (with Törnqvist):
Uppsala universitet
Publications:
The essay ’Stunder av total sammansmältning’ (’Intimate moments’).
One additional popular cultural publication based on the shared intimate stories from the audience is in progress.
Project members
Play writer and director
Paula Stenström Öhman has written and directed plays like”People respect me now”, ”Materia – Jag är inte Linda Lovelace” (Lumor), ”Jonna Jaguar” (Radioteatern) and ”Jag tror på dig Anita” (Stockholms Stadsteater). Stenström Öhman has been rewarded a number of awards, among them the Swedish Ibsen community award 2016.
Research group
Tora Holmberg is Professor in sociology at Uppsala University.
Fredrik Palm is Ph D and Senior lecturer in sociology at Uppsala University.
David Redmalm is Ph d in sociology at Uppsala University.
Maria Törnqvist is Assistant professor in sociology at the Institute for Future Studies and Uppsala University.
Institutional affiliation
Institute for Future Studies (IF is also base for the VR-financed research project).
Staging sociology:
Intimate relations in the loneliest country in the world
Project aim and development
The aim with the project has been to communicate results on intimacy and solidarity in contemporary Sweden departing from the on-going research project ‘Intimate sociality’ (financed by Vetenskapsrådet dnr 421-2014-1465). Our ambition has been to create a kaleidoscopic theater play reflecting a deeply human need and people’s various ways of living and experiencing it. One point of departure is that questions concerning intimacy suit the multi-sensorial expressions of the theatrical stage. In standard social science publications individual voices are often downplayed in favor of generalizing descriptions. By staging themes from the research we wished to mediate insights in a more direct manner that would more easily affect people outside academia and inspire them to reflect further on intimacy. The idea has been that sound, light and décor – together with the actors’ embodiment of sociological ideas transformed into a play script – would help bring the audience to the environments that the research project explores and to create an emotional involvement with the themes.
The theater project has implied a possibility for us, the researchers, to work on our questions and themes in new ways. The dramatization of research voices, both empirical and theoretical, has offered a new lens to explore complex relations. A new intimacy has emerged, not only between different parts of our research project but more generally between research, theater and audience. To sum up, the communication project has created a mutual exchange of knowledge in which several actors and arenas, other than research based, have been involved.
Realization, ethics and examination
Realizing the project
In order to keep and accentuate the rhythm, humor and gravity involved in the research material, we had to find a play writer who could handle a documentary material and create an artistically independent product. The research group decided to introduce a dialogue with play writer and director Paula Stenström Öhman renowned for her documentary way of working (involving interviews and participant observations) and for creating theater plays that strongly affect the audience and the deal with highly relevant social questions of our time.
The budget was primarily aimed for the process of script writing. Through on-going consultation with the research group, Stenström Öhman (SÖ) has processed published articles, unpublished papers and parts of non-identifiable interview extracts and field notes and has created the dramatic stand-alone piece Ocean. The researchers have contributed with background information and continuous feedback throughout the process, although SÖ is responsible for the final product. It was difficult to interweave all case studies, instead SÖ focused on the material on cohousing (SÖ and Törnqvist also made two interviews together) and support groups for sex addicts. However, SÖ did take the broader theoretical framework of the research project into account and brought in insights on grief and loss from Redmalm’s work.
Early on in the process, SÖ established contact with Unga Klara, since January 2018 national stage for young people and children. It was decided that the play would be launched sometime during the spring 2018. 8 of January, a collation meeting was organized, bringing all parts of the team together (actors, light, sound, producer, VD) to go over the script for the first time. During the collation, as well as two repetitions, represents from the research team were present. We also carried out discussions about the research project with the ensemble and director, in which we also talked about their experiences during the repetitions and their views on the themes. On March 15 all of Stockholm was painted in green. The beautiful ocean-green poster adorned many of the main streets and the play was launched in front of an excited audience. The play was positively reviewed in the large Swedish newspapers, including SvD, DN and Expressen.
Ocean has been performed forty times during a two months long period. It was shown both at day and night. In total 2 705 people, including 35 schools, have watched it. Of these, 1 401 are classified as young people, 1 190 adults and 114 seniors. The pitch towards schools and a young audience made Unga Klara involve a theater pedagogue who developed a teacher’s guide to help teachers use Ocean in education after their classes had watched the play. Focus was on norms and expectations bound to intimacy (Redmalm met the pedagogue to discuss the process, 22/5 2018).
After one of the performances we organized a panel with us (Redmalm and Törnqvist) and the playwriter and director SÖ at Unga Klara. Questions related to intimacy as well as cooperative work between theater and research was discussed (10/4 2018). The research group also contributed with an essay for the program in which our research is discussed and put in dialogue with the play (‘Intimate moments’). In addition, we have, in corporation with Unga Klara, collected intimate stories from the audience. At every performance the audience has been informed and encouraged to share their personal stories. Around one hundred accounts have been handled in (a box at the entrance was made for the purpose), and will serve for a separate publication.
Ethical guidelines
The ethical guidelines from the Research council (Vetenskapsrådet) have been taken into account and imply anonymous handling of interviews as to not let any informants be identifiable. The informants have been informed that their participation may result in artistic work, such as theater plays. One part of the budget was for the research group members, partly for ethical reasons, in order to secure that results and material were carefully acted upon and in line with research ethical proposals. The final play script is mostly fictional and only loosely builds on the original material. In order to secure this, an ethical based contract was signed between the research group and SÖ.
Examining the project
The project group has carried out an examining discussion with three external researchers: Ph d Anna Adeniji, lecturer in gender, Södertörn, Assistant professor Stina Bergman Blix, lecturer in sociology, Uppsala university and Assistant professor Anna Lund, lecturer in sociology, Stockholm university. They were selected due to their expertise in joint projects between research/cultural art fields/civil society (Adeniji) and research expertise on the artistic field of theater (Bergman Blix and Lund). The tree researchers have watched the play, two of them also listened to the panel between SÖ, Redmalm and Törnqvist (10/4 2018). In the shape of a critical and open conversation with us (Redmalm and Törnqvist) we discussed benefits and challenges, the realization process and insights to bring forward into coming cooperative projects (22/5 2018).
Experience and knowledge
Only one of us in the research group had previous experience from close cooperation with the stage art (Redmalm). This made the communication project very rich in new knowledge but also challenging. The cooperation with SÖ was characterized by constant discussions in order to find the right frames for participation and compromises. How free should the artist be in relation to the research project? What works on stage? And how not to be too explicit and overtly pedagogic while communicating ones research? Such questions were dealt with during the script work and also when writing the program essay. In a review in SvD (17/3 2018) Ylva Lagercrantz commented on this part of the project and claimed that the cooperation between artist and researcher risks resulting in ‘didactic utility-theater for school-children’. However, Lagercrantz was clear to stress that the play avoided this partly because it so lively reflected on different forms and perspectives on intimacy and the paradoxes of close relations.
These experiences have made the communication project an immensely enrichening knowledge process. Some experiences to share is, firstly, the importance of clarity. We wrote a contract in regard to research ethics but would have been helped by clarifying also expectations around other parts of the cooperative process. However, it is uncertain if we would have had as interesting conversations about the relation between research and art if the boundaries had been more firm from the beginning. We may say that we learned about these borders bodily, by lived experience, instead of through verbal desk-intense discussions. Another insight regards who you formally cooperate with. We chose to contact a play writer and director who, in turn, contacted an artistic institution (Unga Klara). An alternative, with possibly more firm and clearer rules would have been to invite an institution who, in turn, would have contacted a suitable play writer and director. The large institutions are more experienced when it comes to cooperation with researchers and already have a discussion going on everything from practical matters to ethical concerns and juridical copyright issues. A benefit with cooperating with SÖ, a well-known and well established play writer and director, was that we were familiar with her earlier plays and her way of working and thereby could foresee that her style would go well in hand with our research project.
Web-pages and publications
Reviews of the play:
Expressen, Maria Edström
DN, Pia Huss
SvD, Ylva Lagercrantz
Scenkonstguiden, Erika Ingelsson
Arbetaren, Isabel Lind
Interview (with Törnqvist):
Uppsala universitet
Publications:
The essay ’Stunder av total sammansmältning’ (’Intimate moments’).
One additional popular cultural publication based on the shared intimate stories from the audience is in progress.
Project members
Play writer and director
Paula Stenström Öhman has written and directed plays like”People respect me now”, ”Materia – Jag är inte Linda Lovelace” (Lumor), ”Jonna Jaguar” (Radioteatern) and ”Jag tror på dig Anita” (Stockholms Stadsteater). Stenström Öhman has been rewarded a number of awards, among them the Swedish Ibsen community award 2016.
Research group
Tora Holmberg is Professor in sociology at Uppsala University.
Fredrik Palm is Ph D and Senior lecturer in sociology at Uppsala University.
David Redmalm is Ph d in sociology at Uppsala University.
Maria Törnqvist is Assistant professor in sociology at the Institute for Future Studies and Uppsala University.
Institutional affiliation
Institute for Future Studies (IF is also base for the VR-financed research project).