Walking With Words: A Reflexive Journey of Pre-Project Engagement Through Poetic and Participatory Methods

Abstract

This reflective paper is written by a multi-stakeholder key advisory set (KAS) team consisting of university academics, engagement staff, and community-based practitioners from an Indigenous group called the Gamtouers, in South Africa. It critically examines the pre-project finalisation stage of a National Research Grant initiative, aligned with the New Frontiers in Research Fund multilateral project. During this stage, the KAS team engaged school and community stakeholders to explore the potential for ethical, reciprocal partnerships rooted in shared histories and lived experiences. Guided by critical pedagogy and participatory praxis, the process emphasised co-construction of meaning, reflexivity, and disruption of hierarchical knowledge flows. Two creative and dialogic methods were employed: a short video capturing the team's physical movement through school spaces, attuning to affective and sensory impressions; and the co-creation of palindrome poems, used to surface embodied insights and invite reciprocal reflection. Analysis of these artefacts revealed two central themes: collective belonging and relational trust, and transformative learning through uncertainty and shared exploration. These highlight the power of dialogic knowledge-making in fostering connection, vulnerability, and shared purpose. However, a key tension also emerged: initial hesitancy and power asymmetries in engagement-particularly in navigating institutional identities and unequal access to research language and authority. The paper makes a methodological contribution by showing how imaginative artefacts-visual and poetic-can humanise pre-project engagement. It argues that such practices form vital groundwork for equitable collaborations, especially in settings influenced by systemic inequality and educational marginalisation.