The Psychological is Participatory

Feminist critical participatory action research with women’s counseling centers and their clients

Counselling centres for women* are important institutions founded by the second women’s movement. In the project we are conducting research together with counsellors and clients of women’s* counselling centres. We are interested in the life stories of women* who seek help at counselling centres. Therefore, biographical interviews with the participation of citizens are at the centre of the research. The key data from the interviews will then be condensed into biographical “profiles” and – if desired – made publicly accessible.

The researchers would then like to analyse the women’s* interviews comparatively with interviews conducted in the previous FWF research project “The Psychological is Political” (2018-2022).

In the follow-up project, we are conducting research together with the Vienna counselling centres Frauen* beraten Frauen* (Dr. Bettina Zehetner) and Peregrina (Dr. Sigrid Awart and Dr. Andrea Kaiser-Horvath). Prof. Michelle Fine & Prof. Maria Elena Torre (CUNY), Prof. Thomas Stefan (Postdam), Prof. Alexandra Rutherford (Toronto) and Dr. Kate Sheese (Berlin) are part of  the project’s Advisory Board. Project completion is planned for December 2023.

Project team

Project lead
Ass.-Prof. Dr. Nora Ruck (nora.ruck@sfu.ac.at)

Project members
Dr. Barbara Rothmüller, Julia Struppe-Schanda, MA

Method

In workshops, the women* are instructed in documenting their knowledge in the form of narrated stories and/or with visual methods. This method of oral history research can and should be carried on in the social communities of the women* and the counselling centres after the end of the project.

Question(s) and hypotheses

• What does it mean to lead a good life as a woman* in this society?
• What prerequisites are needed for this and what obstacles to a good life do women* perceive?

Scientific and practical relevance

The perspective of female clients has only rarely been taken into account in the history of psychology. Disadvantaged women* in particular are often not heard, for example migrant women or single mothers affected by poverty. Research with clients aims to empower women* and to explore with them how social circumstances have shaped their lives.

Funding body

FWF

Project duration

05/2022 – 04/2024

Publications

Lecture: “The Psychological is Participatory. Feminist critical participatory action research with women’s counseling centers and their clients”, Lecture at the Annual Conference of the European Society for the History of the Human Sciences (Nora Ruck, Barbara Rothmüller, Emelie Rack & Vanessa Siebauer), SFU Berlin, 30th August 2022.    

If you are interested in this project, please contact Nora Ruck (nora.ruck@sfu.ac.at) or Barbara Rothmüller (barbara.rothmueller@sfu.ac.at).