Whose Power?
Whose Power? is a project that started as an exploration of how we research the overlooked actors in the histories of energy together. Professor Abigail Harrison Moore from the University of Leeds was awarded a Fellowship from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to work with us to find out how we do participatory research in the Museum. Abigail had co-written a book called In a New Light: Histories of Women and Energy (MQUP 2021) where she had explored the stories of women that are missing from the written histories of energy and technology. We started by choosing objects in the Leeds Discovery Centre that helped us think about women making energy decisions in the home and why their stories had been forgotten. We decided that we wanted to ask important questions such as ‘Who is missing from the history of energy?’; ‘Which history of energy is recorded and why?’; ‘Whose had/has the power to deliver energy change in the home?’.
Working together we have produced 2 exhibitions; one at Leeds City Museum and one at the Leeds Discovery Centre; a zine; a documentary; and at the request of the Preservative Party, 2 seasons of a podcast. In the podcast we reflect on our learning together and what young people need to help them find their voices through participatory research. You can watch our film (which includes discussions of our exhibitions and shows our zine) and listen to our podcasts here.
We co-curated our first Whose Power? Exhibition at Leeds City Museum and it was open to the public from January – March 2024. We then re-launched it and included new objects at the Leeds Discovery Centre in November 2024.
Whoose Power? The podcast
Whose Power? is a podcast that explores the power of participation and seeks to amplify the voices of young people to create new knowledge and understanding. The podcast is a collaboration between Abigail Harrison Moore from the University of Leeds and The Preservative Party. Together they’ve been exploring how participatory research can help us better understand power, who has it, and how it’s used in different settings. In Series 2 they explore what real collaboration looks like and how participatory research in the podcasting space can amplify the voices of young people.
Listen to the full podcast on YouTube
Zines
Working with Preservative Party member and Creative Producer, Saraya, we produced a zine that spoke to our ideas about Whose Power?
Throughout this project we documented the journey and created a documentary you can watch here.