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This book explores the nature of contemporary heritage research involving university and community partners. Putting forward a new view of heritage as a process of research and involvement with the past, undertaken with or by the communities for whom it is relevant, the book uses a diverse range of case studies, with many chapters co-written between academics and community partners. Through this extensive work, the book shows that the process of research itself can be an empowering force by which communities stake a claim in the places they live.

This book presents a collection of research projects carried out by experienced practitioners in the play sector in the UK and US who were also students, graduates and staff on the University of Gloucestershire’s postgraduate programme in children’s play. It offers a range of approaches to researching children’s play and adults’ roles in supporting it, including some that move beyond traditional qualitative approaches to explore what more might be said through post-qualitative methodologies. It also offers multi- and trans-disciplinary perspectives on children’s play and adults’ relationships with it, presenting students and practitioners alike with diverse perspectives to complement the dominant orthodoxy of developmental psychology. The book shares reflections on the research process; explores issues concerning researching children’s play and adults working to support it; showcases a diversity of contexts and sites of investigation into children’s play; and draws on diverse disciplinary perspectives on children’s play and adults’ relationships with it. Topics include adults’ memories of their own childhood play; adults’ role in the co-production of spaces where children can play, including adventure playgrounds, out of school clubs, children’s zoos, children’s museums and public space; perspectives on the nature and value of adventure playgrounds and playwork; therapeutic approaches to playwork; playwork and wellbeing; supporting the play of severely disabled children and young people; play and contemporary art practice; children’s use of technology in a playground; and children’s play in public spaces. Research methodologies include ethnography, auto-ethnography, oral histories, participatory action research, case study; performative, narrative and non-representational approaches.

This book is the story of twelve people, each living with long-term illness. Delving into the routines and rhythms of everyday life, the book reveals the significance of the things that we usually take for granted, from what we eat to when we sleep, how we move, and what we wear. Learning from the lives portrayed, it explores ideas of care, vulnerability and choice, questioning what it means to live a modern life with illness and illuminating the vitality of bodies along the way. Juxtaposing academic text with rich descriptions and vivid illustrations, including video stills, journal extracts, and drawings, the book highlights the sensory and emotional intimacies of visual sociology and demonstrates the use and value of sensuous scholarship.