‘Personal, Practice: Media & Research’ CSAReps project launch
‘Personal, Practice: Media & Research’ was the name of the CSAReps project launch event which took place online over the course of two afternoons, April 29th and April 30th 2025 . Here are the edited recordings of some of our speakers’ presentations. We have lightly edited the talks based on our presenters’ requests as well as the inevitable long pauses and feedback of live tech troubleshooting.
We are grateful to the speakers for sharing their skills and expertise in their varied respective fields, but even more so in their presentation skills with live readings of relevant works, the presentation of research and artistic performance. They referenced and informed each other to create a unified takeaway message that listening, truly listening, and seeing disclosures of CSA is as, if not more, important on the part of all members of society as is the disclosure of CSA in all of its creative expressions and forms. Both are personal, both are a practice.
Recordings
Dr Ailise Bulfin
Introduction to the Project and the Project Launch
Notes
This is the opening framing of the CSAReps Project.
The event program as well as the safeguarding statement & code of conduct are also mentioned.
Sophie Olson
The Flying Child - A Cautionary Fairy Tale for Adults
Notes
The Flying Child is written as a fairy tale for adults with a cautionary warning. This recording includes a reading of a chapter from the author Sophie Olsen.
About the Flying Child
- https://www.theflyingchild.com
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000zkq4
- https://linktr.ee/theflyingchild
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/theflyingchild/
Redistribution of this audio recording is strictly prohibited. Audio relating to ‘The Flying Child – A Cautionary Fairy Tale for Adults‘, is the property and copyright of Sophie Olson ©2024. Audio from Radio 4 Lights Out ‘The Last Taboo’ is the property and copyright of Falling Tree.
Claire Cunnington & Chris Godwin
Flow
Notes
Claire discusses her PHD results of interviews conducted with CSA survivors and the importance of relationships in recovering from CSA and introduces Chris Godwin, co-producer of their film “Flow” which is a short film about disclosing CSA
About Claire Cunnington:
- https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/spir/people/academic/claire-cunnington
- https://clairecunnington.com
- https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:bpnrjmtgtfxapxcw5scr2q5v
- Cunnington, Claire (2019) Adults Recovering from Childhood Sexual Abuse: A
Salutogenic Approach. PhD thesis, University of Sheffield. - Cunnington, C., & Clark, T. (2023). ‘They would rather not have known and me kept my mouth shut’: The role of neutralisation in responding to the disclosure of childhood sexual abuse. Qualitative social work, 22(6), 1157-1174.
About Chris Godwin:
- Inner Eye Productions
- ‘Seen and heard’
- ‘Clarissa’
- – ‘Flow’ Full film:
- Cunnington, C., de Courcier, S., Godwin, C., Hannis, J., Lloyd, J., Macklam, S., & Turner, Z.
(2024). ‘Flow’: A Film About the Disclosure of Childhood Sexual Abuse. Sociological Research Online, 13607804241248347.
Hazel K Larkin
Body of Evidence, Essays from a Crime Scene
Notes
Hazel performs a powerful essay from her book, from the scene of the crime – her actual body
About Hazel Katherine Larkin
David Hanauer
"Poetic Autoethnography: Navigating Challenging Personal Experiences through Reflective, Poetry Writing"
Notes
David discusses personal and evolving changes the author experiences whilst writing poetry at difference stages of life
- Hanauer, D. I. (2022). The writing processes underpinning wellbeing: Insight and emotional clarity in poetic autoethnography and freewriting. Frontiers in Communication, 7, 923824.
- Gildea, I. J. (2021). The poetry of forgiveness: Poetic inquiry, forgiveness and autoethnography in the context of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) recovery. Journal of spirituality in mental health, 23(1), 77-97.
- Full Self Study Course on Poetic Autoethnography by David Hannauer
- Video Art, Poetry, Art Journaling and Screen Printing of David Hanauer:
Comments from attendees:
Utterly fascinating presentation, thank you, I am a survivor and a writer of both poetry and prose over decades etc, published etc, BUT my reflection on your talk feels so unexpected that is, I now wonder if the poetry I’ve been writing all my life has been my way of seeing my “core self” all along as carrying too much. Wow! Thank you”
“This is really interesting! So through the writing of the poem, the writer is also changing. Language constructs reality. We “emerge” through the writing process”
Brendan Rooney
"Personal relevance, empathy, self-disclosure, and film"
This talk explores how the design of audiovisual narratives, particularly formal features such as camera distance, can influence viewers’ emotional engagement and willingness to open up. Empirical studies of viewer responses can contribute to our understanding of how media features prompt particular cognitive and affective reactions. Drawing on experimental research in psychology, the presentation focuses on the effects of close-up shots, viewer empathy, and personal relevance, offering insights into how film might (and might not) create space for personal reflection and self-disclosure
Notes
Brendan Rooney:
- Director of UCD Media & Entertainment Lab
- Father and Daughter (2001) Short Film
- Bálint, K. E., Blessing, J. N., & Rooney, B. (2020). Shot scale matters: The effect of close-up frequency on mental state attribution in film viewers. Poetics, 83, 101480.
- Bálint, K., Sukalla, F., & Rooney, B. (2022). Personal relevance and state empathy with a
character facilitates self-disclosure in film viewers. Frontiers in Communication, 7, 984341. - Waltz of the Danube
Emilie Pine
"On seeing and being seen: the ubiquity of rape culture"
- https://x.com/emiliepine?lang=en
- Industrial Memories Project. https://industrialmemories.ucd.ie
- Pine, E. (2020). The Memory Marketplace: Witnessing Pain in Contemporary Irish and International Theatre. Indiana Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv11vcfwz
- Pine, E. (2018). Notes to Self. Tramp Press. https://contemporaryirishwriting.ie/books/notes-to-self/