Research Challenge:

Research Challenge: Gender Equality. The Feminist Walk of Cork project has so far devised two walks that focus on celebrating the contribution of women to art, culture, society and the city. The walks explore the role of women in addressing sexual and social inequalities, and building fairer, safer communities. The Feminist Walk project is an example of a ‘connected curriculum’ (UCC), a collaboration between the university and community partners. It is a good example of working together, sharing knowledge and expertise that enables us to be more than the sum of our parts. It is an example of participatory, collaborative research and practice that shares in a collective way our combined expertise and knowledge to address gender-based inequalities.

Feminist Walk of Cork 1 writes women into the spaces and topography of the city and documents the pioneering work of women led organisations in Cork city to create change and build safer, sustainable and fairer communities. Feminist Walk of Cork 2 further documents the important contributions made by trailblazing feminists past and present in the context of history in the present and the confinement, containment, and social control of women’s ‘risky’ bodies. We also examine the labelling, marginalisation and criminalisation of women who were deemed to transgress societal norms and expectations, the pioneering work of women both now and in the past.

Research Approach: 

The Feminist Walk of Cork project uses ethnographic, archival and walking based research methods to deepen our understanding of gender based inequalities, the importance of developing innovative and critical pedagogies for generating learning and better understanding that seek to have impact in delivering on the SDGs listed below, including gender inequality, good quality education, peace, justice and strong institutions and delivering strong partnerships with community organisations to do so. Methodologically the research project is underpinned by the ethos of participatory action research, an ethic of care, and the principles of inclusion, participation, challenging stigma, valuing all voices and working together to deliver action-oriented interventions - in this case the map, the guided walk and the website.

Walking as a teaching, learning and pedagogic practice builds upon a long history of walking as a research method alongside participatory and biographical methods to teach Sociology, Criminology, Women and Gender Studies in sensory and corporeal ways. Learning can be convivial, multi-modal and does not just take place in the head but in the heart and body. Learning is a thinking, feeling and embodied practice. The Feminist Walk project delivers knowledge and understanding that emerges through our collaborations with community organisations as a ‘connected university’. It champions the feminist theory, feminist practice and advocacy embedded in the work of civil society organisations; offers a feminist intervention, a walk, supported by research, that can be guided or self-guided, and that ultimately promotes social justice towards more equitable, just, fairer and safer societies for all.

Webpage URLs and citation:

https://www.feministwalkcork.ie/

O’Neill, M. Edwards, C. Mullally, G. Ni Laoire, C. (2022) Walking Methodologies: Social Research on the Move. Special edition of the Irish Journal of Sociology. https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/irja/31/1

O’Neill, M. and Roberts, B. (2020) Walking Methods: Research on the Move. London: Routledge.

O’Neill, J. and O’Neill, M. (2022) Walking in the Boboli Gardens in Florence: Toward a Transdisciplinary, Visual, Cultural, and Constellational Analyses of Medieval

Which SDGs were most impacted? 

SDG 5, SDG 4, SDG 16 & SDG 17