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- Convenors:
-
Fátima Amante
(Universidade de Lisboa, Institute of Social and Political Sciences, Centre for Public Administration and Public Policies)
Ana Carvalho (Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia)
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- Format:
- Panel
Short Abstract:
The panel sets out to reflect on the intersection of anthropological knowledge, ethnography and violence toward people in precarious situations. Are we doing more than just interpreting their lives? Are we allowing those we work with to bring their epistemologies to the anthropological project?
Long Abstract:
Over time, anthropological interest has largely focused on groups and subjects in precarious economic, social and political situations. Notwithstanding an acute awareness of the need to decolonise the discipline, we propose to discuss how anthropological practice and knowledge production are moving forward, answering precariousness, threats to human rights and the diverse forms of violence exerted upon vulnerable people. We inquire how ethnography can empower people who perceive themselves and are perceived by the anthropologist as being in the margins. How do Indigenous, undocumented immigrants, poor and homeless people and other vulnerable groups who mainstream anthropology perceive as researching groups and subjects benefit from the anthropological research? How does ethnography impact or not impact their lives? What are the human consequences of anthropological research beyond academic indicators? Anthropological authority has been critically addressed for a long time, and there is a long tradition of ethnographers from the so-called ‘dominant anthropology’ (Restrepo & Escobar, 2005) to include local people as collaborators and coauthors in ethnographic projects. In what ways is the present approach to local collaboration different from the classic ‘collaborative’ and ‘participatory’ ethnography? Is there room for the integration of epistemologies? Can they use ethnography to produce knowledge about themselves? Furthermore, a new generation of anthropologists has questioned the historical objectification of their groups in previous works, introducing new theoretical dialogues from black, Indigenous and peripheral authors and improving autoethnography.
We welcome papers that address these questions both conceptually and ethnographically.
Accepted papers:
Paper short abstract:
In this paper, I examine my collaboration on an ethnographic project initiated by the Koyas, an Indigenous community residing in rural Telangana, India and argue that this project is a form of decolonising endeavour.
Paper long abstract:
In this paper, I examine my collaboration on a ethnographic project initiated by the Koyas, an Indigenous community residing in rural Telangana, India and argue that it consitutes a form of decolonising endeavour. I choose ‘endeavour’ to reflect the incipient efforts of the Koyas in exercising their sovereignty on what constitutes Koya Indigenous knowledge and the potentialities that can emerge from their efforts. According to Sium, Desai and Ritskes (2012, iii), a decolonising project is one that ‘seeks to reimagine and rearticulate power, change, and knowledge through a multiplicity of epistemologies, ontologies and axiologies’. It calls for us to recognise and appreciate diverse forms of knowledge, beings, and values. The project aligns closely with this definition for it captures the efforts by the Koyas to articulate their own ways of knowing and living in the world. Also, the project represents a form of agency and refusal. The agency is manifested in the intent of the Koyas to reclaim what constitutes their knowledge and to foreground their own perspectives and narratives. As for refusal, the project allows the Koyas to refuse static notions of tribal identity imposed by the Indian state and to forge their own narratives. Hence, it is a decolonising endeavour that facilitates a generative approach towards Koya identity and an expression of the agential power of the Koyas.
Paper short abstract:
Researching migration especially in postcolonial border regions often leads to complex ethical dilemmas.Our paper, based on empirical evidence, reflects on researchers’ blocks, the plausible crevices in methodological entry points and the questions of choices of (in)visibility in migration research.
Paper long abstract:
Researching migrant and once-displaced communities in postcolonial border regions often leads to complex ethical dilemmas. An often encountered dilemma is determining whose voices matter most in the research process—the researcher’s or the interlocutors’ or both and to what extent? This question becomes especially urgent when working with communities and their descendants who have experienced multiple displacements and/or stigma. This paper explores these ethical challenges in conducting ethnography, drawing from an intercontinental study conducted across Europe, the Middle East, Central America, and Southeast Asia. The methodology was primarily ethnographic, while our research process was marked by moments of 'researcher’s block’ and questions of representation, when we struggled with how to (not) represent the interlocutors and yet do justice to the research process. A key issue that emerged was their reluctance to be named or made visible, not just through pseudonyms, but through the act of omission of their experiences from the research itself. This then led us to reflect on what are the appropriate, culturally sensitive methods for researching migration, given the often exploitative media coverage, risks of reliving painful histories, and volatile socio-political contexts surrounding (im)migration. In this paper, we reflect not only on the issues of the communities we studied, but on ourselves as researchers by seeking to raise two central questions: First, are we missing critical methodological approaches for researching the lives of those affected by past trauma? Second, who decides the boundaries of visibility and invisibility in migration research, and how can we navigate those decisions ethically?
Paper short abstract:
The presentation describes some dialogues between Amazonian indigenous knowledge practices and academic ones in anthropological doing in the field and in academia, interrogating what are the potentialities for research, dissemination and teaching.
Paper long abstract:
The presentation introduces some examples of anthropological practices which have at the core a dialogue between knowledge practices of Indigenous people in the Amazon and academic ones. Anthropologists have a long tradition of building dialogues with knowledge and epistemologies of the people in the field. However, these have often been built on a hierarchical relation, maintaining the primacy of academic perspectives. In recent years, a growing number of Indigenous scholars have been raising multiple epistemological proposals, which gained growing impact on hegemonic academic spaces. Based on these proposals, new insights on how to reformulate academic practices are emerging, redefining epistemological relations. Taking this as a point of departure, this presentation will describe a research action project, the curatorship of an ethnographic exhibition, and teaching/learning activities. The aim is to reflect on how Indigenous knowledge can contribute to the redefinition of anthropological doing, focusing on concepts such as "theory as practice" and "doing together", as proposed by Amazonian Indigenous scholars. The thesis is that these epistemologies can shape anthropology as a discipline in different facets of academic practice, producing impact beyond punctual collaborations toward more inclusive and symmetrical ways of doing academia.
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines how the use of alternative visual methodology cyanotype, aligns with feminist and decolonial methodologies. Prioritising relational processes over hierarchical structures and centering embodied, experiential knowledge rather than abstract theorisation.
Paper long abstract:
To explore how contemporary dance, as an embodied practice, can be epistemic, I joined seven female dancers and a choreographer on Lauzoua Island in Côte d’Ivoire for a three-week movement residency. The residency focused on creating Femme Akondi, a biographical choreography of Lauzoua women. A choreographed narrative, aimed at revealing the hidden and silenced histories of women from Lauzoua. The residency’s late-night schedule allowed me to spend mornings walking the island to investigate Lauzoua women’s everyday life and movements. Despite linguistic barriers—limited knowledge of Dida on my part and limited French on theirs—photography became a “can-opener,” initiating conversations. However, the perception of my skin tone, often associated with the identity of the coloniser, presented significant challenges in negotiating and minimising my positionality. This dynamic was further compounded by the sociocultural and historical legacies of colonialism. In response, I adopted an alternative visual methodology emphasising collaboration and participation, shifting the focus from "taking" to "making." Cyanotype’s chemical process, where invisible patterns emerge under UV light, shifts the focus from external observation to internal expression, centring the participants' perspectives and experiences. I argue that cyanotype, as a research method, aligns with feminist and decolonial methodologies by prioritising relational processes over hierarchical structures, valuing collective creation over individual output, and centring embodied, experiential knowledge rather than abstract theorization. My findings are supported by the cyanotypes created by Lauzoua women, along with photographs, audio, and video documenting their reflections and the integration of their creations into the stage design of Femme Akondi.
Paper short abstract:
This study integrates Indigenous knowledge on sustainability into Indonesia’s education system. Using participatory action research with the Marapu community in West Sumba, Indonesia. It aims to build knowledge about how to incorporate Indigenous Knowledge into Indonesia’s state primary schools.
Paper long abstract:
This participatory action research aims to build knowledge about how to incorporate Indigenous Knowledge into Indonesia’s state primary schools. According to the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), about 57 million hectares out of the 111.5 million hectares of Indonesian national forest are inhabited by Indigenous Peoples (Andriarsi, 2020). This number may be even higher, as many areas have not been mapped yet. This means more than 50% of Indonesian national forests are inhabited and protected by Indigenous communities.
This research focuses on collaboration and co-creation between researchers and teachers to develop a learning module that centers Indigenous knowledge in the primary school curriculum. It aims to understand how teachers can cultivate and integrate Indigenous knowledge into the school curriculum in partnership with the community. Participants include 12 primary school teachers from two schools in Laboya Dete, West Sumba, Indonesia. Nine teachers are members of the local community, and three teachers are from outside the community.
The anticipated outcome is a conceptual framework for embedding indigenous knowledge into education, fostering mutual benefits for the community and national development. This research aims to contribute to sustainability and equitable development aligned with Indonesia’s diverse biocultural heritage.
Paper short abstract:
Pewenche people have had bad experiences with anthropologists. How do we conduct a non-extractive and collaborative research? To address this issue, I will share the experiences of conducting research with Pewenche people from Alto BioBío in Chile
Paper long abstract:
“Aquí los antropologos lo hicieron muy mal!” “Here the anthropologists did very badly!”. I received this comment from a Pewenche person when I said I was an anthropologist. Local people of Alto BioBío, where I’m conducting research since 2019, had very bad experiences with anthropologists. Researchers are seen as people who come and go, ask intimate questions and then disappear forever and sell the data to companies or institutions which eventually affect them. This shows how anthropological knowledge is still much linked to the colonial and capitalistic system and serve their purposes. As an anthropologists, I felt an ethical responsibility to develop a research and a praxis that was respectful and deeply served people. But no one told me how to do that. I started to think about: how do we conduct an anthropological research that is developed with the social group and is not about them? What are fair and non-extractive anthropological praxis? After a few years, many attempts and failures, together with local people and organizations I’m conducting a collaborative designed research that answer their questions and will hopefully serve their needs, using a collaborative, participative and non-invasive methodology. In this presentation, I will share our experience.
Paper short abstract:
This proposal intends to make ethnographic writing an way to echo with the women's knowledge in the changes observed in the landscape of the cerrados in the Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Paper long abstract:
"De primeiro" [at first] it was all cerradão, as Dona Vani and other residents said in the rural location in the northwest of Minas Gerais, Brazil. "The world is writing, and people are not reading", said the women to draw attention to the "secamento do tempo" in the cerrado mineiro. It was common to hear: ‘it has rained less’, ‘it's a different heat’, ‘there's more dust’. ‘There are no more trees’, ‘the rivers are dry’, ‘the rivers are not in the same place’, ‘the paths have changed’, ‘the animals have disappeared’, ‘it does not bloom as before’. The "secamento do tempo" refers to changes observed in the landscape of the cerrados. It also informs about the developmental logic that ignores the specificities of local knowledge methods; the death of the cerrado as it was de primeiro. Act against the secamento do tempo is the task that many of the women have been facing in the cerrado. Along with this action, this proposal intends to observe and react to the writings of the world that the people are not reading: an ethical and political proposition. How can ethnographic writing be used to echo along the women's knowledge in the cerrado?
Paper short abstract:
This paper studies aspects of paradigm shifts in Western ethnographic studies about Muslim women in the first two decades of the 21st century and their ideological underpinnings. It offers an insider's counternarrative emanating from Tunisia.
Paper long abstract:
In looking back at the representation of Muslim women in the narratives of Orientalist anthropologists of the 20th century, women in Muslim societies were denied agency and portrayed as helpless victims of oppressed male chauvinists. The 21st century seems to have ushered in a paradigm change in Western ethnographic studies of these vulnerable communities as they have been given agency and portrayed as key actors in the processes of social and political change in the region and were used as mediators in the cross-cultural knowledge production processes. This paper studies aspects of these paradigm shifts in Western ethnographic studies about Muslim women in the first two decades of the 21st century and their ideological underpinnings. It takes stock of multidisciplinary conceptual and analytical frameworks but draws heavily on the conceptual frameworks of socio-narrative translation theories. The study analyzes a corpus of disparate, yet corroborating, ethnographic narratives that cut across linguistic and cultural barriers with the mediation of a native translator and/or co-author. The work claims a ground for itself by mounting a countervailing narrative grounded in insider ethnographic research in Tunisia, the cradle of sociopolitical changes in the region in the 21st century.
Keywords: Arab Spring, Tunisian women, gender neo-Orientalism