Zine-Making Workshop Empowers Participants to Tackle Imposter Syndrome
Poppy Budworth and Sarah Marie Hall hosted a zine-making workshop in partnership with Inspire Women Oldham and the SEED Social Responsibility Catalyst Fund, aimed at addressing Imposter Syndrome among participants.
The interactive event encouraged attendees to explore their feelings through creative expression, using zines as a grassroots tool for sharing personal stories and strategies.
What was the motivation behind your project and how did the SEED SR Catalyst Fund support your research?
[Budworth and Hall] On Wednesday, 31 January 2024, we held a zine-making workshop focused on tackling Imposter Syndrome. The zine-making workshop was co-designed and facilitated by Selina, Mary-Anne and Carrie-Ann of , as well as researchers, Poppy and Sarah, from the project.
During the zine-making workshop we talked together about Imposter Syndrome, what it is, and how to tackle it. The interactive session aimed to empower and uplift participants, and through the practice of zine-making we explored different techniques to express our thoughts and experiences.
By sharing stories, strategies, and creative insights, we created a supportive and inclusive environment where attendees could connect, learn, and grow together as a SEED (School of Environment, Education, and Development) community.
The workshop provided space to work alongside and learn from the brilliant Inspire Women, and since this event the relationship between Inspire and our team has continued to flourish with more creative methods-related events in the pipeline.
How has your project impacted the community?
[Budworth and Hall] We received positive feedback during our session, with many participants reflecting on the cathartic, connective, and creative space we created together. In addition, participants reflected that the workshop encouraged them to feel 鈥渓ess alone鈥�, which shows the importance of creating safe spaces at work to share together, tackle loneliness, and improve wellbeing.
Furthermore, the workshop in January later informed a talk by Selina and Carrie-Ann at an online Urban Studies Foundation event held in May 2024, which focused on ; Selina reflected on her experiences of co-facilitating the zine-making workshop and discussed some of the conversations she鈥檇 had with participants about confidence building.
What does Social Responsibility mean to you in your teaching, research or working in SEED?
[Budworth and Hall] Social responsibility, care, and collectivity is at the core of both Inspire Women Oldham and the Austerity and Altered Life-Courses project, with both amplifying people鈥檚 voices and experiences and through creating spaces for meaningful connections, creativity, and knowledge sharing.
Social responsibility and public engagement are also important to both Poppy and Sarah, personally and professionally. For example, Poppy's work explores social difference, marginalisation, and everyday life, with a focus on youth and disability. Poppy is interested in exploring the ways that academic researchers can collaborate and partner with community-researchers, experts by experience, and non-HEI organisations in meaningful and enduring ways; drawing on creative and non-traditional ways of sharing.
For Sarah these are also key concerns, with a focus on lived experiences and inequalities of economic change for people, places and relationships. Exploring these interests through long-term, sustained and embedded collaborations, creative participatory methods and praxis, and deep listening techniques, social responsibility permeates all elements of her research practice. Building on the learnings and collaborations from the Imposter Syndrome zine-making workshop, we hosted a zine-making workshop as part of the Austerity and Altered Life-Courses International Online Symposium, on the theme of 鈥楩uture Lives and Austerity,鈥� on Wednesday 16th October 2024.
The zines created during the workshop have been to encourage continued conversations about tackling Imposter Syndrome together and to celebrate the participants鈥� creativity in addressing personal and communal challenges.
More information about zine-making as a creative and collaborative method can be found in our 鈥樷��, which was co-produced by Inspire and the Austerity and Altered Life-Courses project, as part of the project. To keep in touch with the project, please follow on X or email austerityalters@manchester.ac.uk.