This method was inspired by work by Nicola Ingram in the UK, and from the keynote by Rachel Brooks at the Journal of Youth Studies Conference 2019 in Newcastle (AUS). For the last interview, 2 years after first meeting the young women, I was interested in talking about the future in a less rehearsed and verbal way and therefore looked to experiment with other methods. The playdough modelling seemed like an option that would create a different mode in the interview and facilitate a different type of reflection than in the dialogue. Participants were provided with four tubs of glitter playdough and asked to produce a figure or model that represented themselves in the future or what they saw as part of their future. They were then given time to reflect on the task while I would be quiet. While I had feared that this task might be perceived as silly, the participants engaged with it and took the time to think about what they might want to make. Some noted how the scent of the playdough brought back childhood memories while others noted their lack of artistic skills.
Photo: Playdough creations by one of the participants
Girls Growing Up 