Ethnographic Expressions: Evaluating multimodal forms
While ethnographic accounts have predominantly relied on academic writing, recent years have witnessed an increased interest in alternative forms of ethnographic expression and exploration. These range from ethnographic fiction and poetry to photo essays and sonic essays, alongside more established forms such as ethnographic film. However, these forms have not always been fully recognised as legitimate avenues of ethnographic enquiry and output. This relative marginality has resulted in a lack of critical scrutiny and clarity about what constitutes, for example, a ‘good’ ethnographic poem or photo essay.
This two-day workshop brings together experts in fields where poetic and fictional writing, as well as sonic and visual explorations, form part of established practice, along with anthropologists experimenting with these methods in their ethnographic work. It aims to encourage interdisciplinary discussions of multimodal practice and the evaluation of these outputs in anthropology, with a particular focus on photo/image essays, sonic essays and ethnographic fiction. Each panel will open with a provocation by an expert with an established practice in the field, followed by three short panel presentations and a discussion.
The discussions will focus on three key areas:
What makes an ethnographic photo essay, image essay, sonic essay, or fiction anthropological or ethnographic?
How do we evaluate and review multimodal ethnographic outputs? What qualities, criteria, and principles are needed? How can these be practically translated into journals’ or other platforms’ review guidelines, editorial decisions, and publication infrastructures?
What can anthropologists working multimodally learn from other disciplines, and vice versa?
The workshop aims to produce a set of guidelines for evaluating ethnographic work in selected multimodal formats. These will be trialled by the Cambridge Journal of Anthropology, shared with other outlets, and made freely available online.