An Exploration of Ethnographic Sketching
University of Southampton Debating Ethnography Group
This session we will explore the use of sketching or visual expression in ethnographic research, as tools for both note-taking and sense-making.
There is a long and rich tradition of using the visual, be it through sketching, photography or film-making, to add to the ethnographer’s assemblage of writing and thoughts (Taussig, 2011; Hockings et al., 2014;), both in the field and beyond. Moreover, the value of sketching as a form of witnessing has long been acknowledged, and may be seen to this day in the ongoing global commissioning of reportage artists and war artists, and in the use of courtroom sketchers.
In recent years several scholars (Taussig, 2011; Kuschnir, 2020; Causey, 2017; Kashanipour, 2021) have explored the potential of sketching / drawing / painting as ethnographic tools, and the methodological and epistemological implications. They have argued for wider use of visual note-taking, highlighting not only the unique form of ‘ethnographic gaze’ (Madden, 2017) that it affords, but also its particular value in the consideration of both elapsed time and intersubjectivity in the field.
Three speakers will each present the different ways in which they make use of visual modes of note-taking and expression in their ethnographic work, and the value that those tools bring. Following the short presentations we will invite all participants to engage in a conversation about the place of the ethnographic sketch, and its possible application in their own work. We will discuss the nature and purpose of the visual arts in ethnography, and explore its relationship to reality, other forms of fieldnotes, the viewer / reader, and the ethnographer themselves.
The confirmed speakers and workshop organisers are:
- Dr Marie-Anne Mansfield, University of Southampton
- Rayhana Moalemi, Université de Strasbourg
- Dr Roula Kitsiou, University of Thessaly
Bibliography
Barr, W. (2016). An ethnographic sketch. In Polaris: The Chief Scientist’s Recollections of the American North Pole Expedition, 1871-73 (pp. 363–384). University of Calgary Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv5rf6g4.27
Causey, A. (2017), Drawn to See: Drawing as an Ethnographic Method. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Hockings, P., K. Tomaselli, J. Ruby, D. MacDougall, D. Williams, A. Piette, M. T. Schwarz and S. Carta. (2014), Where Is the Theory in Visual Anthropology?. Visual Anthropology, vol. 27, no. 5: 436 -456. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/08949468.2014.950155.
Kashanipour, J. (2021), The Third Figure: The Creation of Intersubjectivity in Ethnographic Drawing. Anthropology and Humanism, vol 46: 266-278. https://doi.org/10.1111/anhu.12339
Kuschnir, K. (2016), Ethnographic Drawing: Eleven Benefits of Using a Sketchbox for Fieldwork. Visual Ethnography, vol 5, no 1: 103-134. http://dx.doi.org/10.12835/ve2016.1-0060
Madden, R., (2017). Looking at People: Observations and Images. In Being Ethnographic: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Ethnography, Second edn., London: SAGE Publications Ltd. pp. 95-112 Available at: https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781529716689.n6.
Sopranzetti, C., Fabbri, S. and Natalucci, C. (2022), Dialogues: The King of Bangkok: a collaborative graphic novel. J R Anthropol Inst, 28: 1012-1052. https://doi-org.soton.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/1467-9655.13784
Taussig, M., 2011. I swear I saw this: drawings in fieldwork notebooks, namely my own. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Other resources:
https://www.centerforethnography.org/content/sketching-ethnographyhttps://johnlaudun.net/sketching-ethnography/