A growing number of social science programmes are wrestling with how to introduce undergraduates to qualitative and interpretive research methods, especially when those courses are fully online and asynchronous. In this article, I take up that challenge by sharing how I used a graffiti‑inspired fieldwork assignment in an online state and local politics course at a small regional university. I explore two guiding questions: (1) how political science can benefit from incorporating humanistic and artistic fieldwork practices, and (2) what it looks like to build fieldwork skills when students never share the same physical classroom. Drawing on work in experiential and community‑engaged learning alongside scholarship on graffiti, street art and urban surfaces, I walk through a multistage assignment that asks students to read their own communities – graffiti, corporate advertising, signage, monuments and their absences – as claims to space and expressions of sustainability, belonging and exclusion. I then reflect on where the assignment worked well and where it fell short, including the difficulty of sustaining attention to visual politics and social sustainability in a dispersed, asynchronous setting. I close by offering some takeaways for instructors who want to bring interdisciplinary, fieldwork‑inflected methods into online courses and to help students see the political textures of their everyday surroundings in new ways.
This article introduces and critically reflects upon the Bangor Graffiti Walk, a field-based learning initiative integrated into a freshman visual cultures course at Bangor University, Wales. Framed within the context of institutional constraints facing UK higher education, the walk is presented as a reciprocal model for undergraduate research and a strategy to foster a sense of belonging among students. The 3.5-mile circular route was collaboratively developed with a student intern and tasked 37 students with observation, photography and critical reflection on both commissioned murals and illegal graffiti and street art. By directly engaging with the public visual culture of their new home, students moved towards an active exploration of Bangor’s economic, political and social circumstances. The Bangor Graffiti Walk centres on experiential learning, juxtaposing the state-sanctioned heritage-making of the National Trust Penrhyn Castle with hyper-local meaning-making of street art and graffiti. Student reflections revealed a newfound ability to distinguish between legal and illegal works based on placement and intent, an appreciation for style diversity and some critical recognition of political messaging. Crucially, the walk transformed students’ relationship with Bangor and the university, making them feel more local, increasing their visual literacy and fostering engagement with the world of academic research. Ultimately, the Bangor Graffiti Walk provides an accessible, engaging and interdisciplinary model for effectively teaching theory and concepts and integrating freshmen into a university’s research culture while addressing the vital need for student retention and rooting in a new environment.
This article traces a pedagogical shift from instructor-led museum visits to self-guided explorations of graffiti and street art in the urban environment. Initially, large-group, docent-style street excursions reproduced museum hierarchies in ways that felt intrusive in neighbourhood settings and limited students’ opportunities for learning and growth. In response, the author developed a model of small-group, self-directed field trips focused separately on graffiti and murals, foregrounding observation, documentation and collaborative interpretation. During the fall 2024 semester, pre- and post-trip surveys were administered to assess changes in students’ perceptions of graffiti and street art, their comfort navigating unfamiliar neighbourhoods, and their sense of connection to the city beyond campus. The resulting data indicate that self-guided street art field trips not only deepen art-historical understanding but also foster more positive attitudes towards urban environments and greater confidence in moving through public space. In so doing, the article proposes street art field trips as a powerful complement to museum-based rituals of art viewing, expanding the repertoire of experiential learning strategies in art history pedagogy.
Review of: When a Writer Climbs Walls: A Brief Look at the History of Graffiti Writers and Pichadores who Sought to Paint and Tag where Others Dreamed to , Rainer Turim (2024) New York: Misplaced Press, 10 pp., p/bk, USD 25.00
Review of: Walls that Teach: Graffiti, Education, and the Pedagogy of Resistance , Nyasha Cefas Zimuto and Christopher Mutseekwa (eds) (2024) Harare: University of Zimbabwe Publications, 230 pp., ISBN 978-1-77920-279-5, p/bk, USD 55
