come here no, no, no, knows not culture and knows not of country, workshop better when goes out he knew much things.”13 13
Original quote in Spanish: “Yo antes no lo sé para esto porque este taller hablamos de mi país, yo también, yo he dicho que yo soy de Afganistan. Afganistan este país Asia no tiene mar, este tiene problema este tiene cosas bonito esto malo. También todos he dicho esto. Y nueva persona cuando venir aquí no, no, no, no sabe cultura and no sabe de país, workshop mejor cuando va fuera the sabía mucha cosas”.
We ended the sessions with expressive bodywork, by means of dance or movement. In the beginning weguided dynamics: we practiced movements of flamenco dance as a way of showing Spanish culture and invited them to show their cultures by sharing the dances of their countries. As we progressed, we began to encourage a freer expression.
“[…] on dancing I also before like we here says that what do you want to dance, painting? I have said dance, because dance help a lot of the body like sport also… better you move your body very good, because you dance. Dance also sport. Yes, yes much help for health and much for the body, yes yes. Very good.”14
The reflection on each of the activities proposed to the group, the interaction with the participants and our endeavours to respond to the personal needs of the group, support our statement that we follow an action-research method with the aim of uniting theory and practice to foster positive change in all the workshop participants, in an active, dynamic and participatory way. 14
Original quote in Spanish: “[…] sobre bailar yo también antes como nosotros aquí dice que hoy qué quieres vosotros bailar, pintura? Yo he dicho bailar, porque bailar ayudar mucho of the cuerpo como deporte también…si…mejor tu mover tu cuerpo muy bueno, porque tu bailar. Bailar también deporte. Si, si mucho ayudar para salud y mucho para cuerpo, sí sí. Muy bien”.
Observation tools In the workshops carried out in Europe within the ARIADNE project, a common evaluation tool is the administration of a pre-test and a post-test designed to assess each participant’s progress in the workshop. In our case, in applying this tool, we have run into certain difficulties, since – generally speaking – this group felt ill at ease filling in documents, due to their associations of filling in documentation revealing certain datacan interfere with their asylum request process. We have employed various tools for observation and information-gathering. The Research Group of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid created an individual observation re‐ cord, consisting of pairs of indicators (measured from 1 to 5) that we completed at the end of each session, together with the observations that we deemed most relevant. We also made a log book in which we wrote down what had happened in the session and during the time of our stay at the Centre. Applicants of political asylum should not appear in photographs that may be published, because the grounds of their application are founded in the real fear of their lives being in danger. We respected their requests accordingly and only took pictures of their artwork. Due to the possible repercussions and threats of retaliations towards these people, the names and main references of the testimonials included in this article are not mentioned thus preventing their identification. Another tool that we used was the artist’s notebook, where we captured our impressions in a more emotional and subjective manner. In drawings and collages we captured the mo‐ ment that had made a greatest impression on us in our experience of the Centre. 103