Contribution short abstract:

Feminist campaigns against the exploitative practices of surrogacy employ popular literary figures as visual symbols of protest. This paper analyses how Atwood's iconic Handmaid becomes a symbol for reproductive justice and a common shared transnational resource to create public awareness.

Contribution long abstract:

Surrogacy remains one of the most controversial issues in feminist discourses on human biological reproduction. Since the advent of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) in the 1980s, feminist perspectives on surrogacy have been polarized, with some viewing it as a form of liberation and others as a practice rooted in exploitation. Drawing on my doctoral research on Kinderwunsch (the desire to have children of one’s own) in Germany, this paper analyses the activist visuals utilized by feminist groups in their opposition to surrogacy services promoted at Kinderwunsch exhibitions. I explore how these groups employ powerful symbolic imagery—such as the iconic figure of the Handmaid from Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale—to critique the commodification and exploitation of women’s bodies inherent in surrogacy practices. I argue that the creative use of such visualities in the context of human rights and reproductive justice are smart strategies to make these protests meaningful and relatable to a public that may not be as conversant with the practice of surrogacy. At the same time, they also make a statement of dissention against the biomedical and economic agencies that facilitate these arrangements of exploitation of women’s bodies while creating transnational solidarity with the women (mainly marginalized) whose bodies are exploited. These protests become generative in the sense of solidarity with exploited bodies of women against the extractive politics of surrogacy practices. The Handmaid’s figure thus becomes a common shared resource of understandable and shared meanings for reproductive justice campaigns.

Contribution short abstract:

Within Indianthusiasm-research, I use language and symbolism connected to differing German representations of North American Indigenous people–those depicted under the auspices of the I-word–to begin to plot a visual field of Indianthusiasm while hypothesizing future uses of the I-word in Germany

Contribution long abstract:

The topic of my dissertation project centers around everyday expressions of what Harmut Lutz calls ‘Indianthusiasm’. This refers to a fascination for 'Indianer' – not necessarily real Indigenous North Americans, but rather images, character traits and iconography of stereotypes stemming primarily from fictional narratives which portray 'Indianer' as historically static, racialized, and culturally uniform. Although different facets of Indianthusiasm are found throughout Europe, I focus in on German Indianthusiasm.

In multiple sites and with various actors, I approach diverse and specialized, but also very common, manifestations of these differing fascinations through ethnographic fieldwork. Both factual portrayals and stereotypical visual representations of North American Indigenous people have emerged as one critical aspect in my analysis. The images, but also the language describing them, build community and solidarity in certain groups and generate uncommoning effects, conflict, and political activism among other groups. Certain images are used (or rejected) to reclaim autonomy and generate public awareness, while others are employed in a symbolic way, co-opting the image to make a point about other, often emotionally and politically-charged topics.

In this presentation, I reflect on 'Indianer' imagery encountered throughout my research. I discuss the imagined communities (Anderson) that make use of these images and the strategic language used in combination with them. In doing so, I sketch out a visual field of Indianthusiasm in Germany and begin to hypothesize about the future use of the ‘I-word’ and connected representations among contrasting groups in Germany.

Contribution short abstract:

This paper discusses methodological experiments with a hybrid docfiction format and co-scripted scenes in the context of Kenyan migrants’ futuremaking practices in the Rift Valley.

Contribution long abstract:

This paper discusses methodological experiments with a hybrid docfiction format and co-scripted scenes in the context of Kenyan migrants’ futuremaking practices in the Rift Valley.

The Kenyan Rift Valley is a popular destination for workers in search of wage labour not only for the work opportunities at large agroindustrial farms, but also because it offers a range of other activities to flexibly change to in a fluctuating sector. The threat of such fluctuations poses challenges to the workers in their attempt to cater for a better future for their families. Depending on a stable income, they constantly envision and practice “lateral” work scenarios and subsequent coping strategies.

In the attempt of accessing such future visions and strategies methodologically, I collaborated with the research participants, a script consultant and a cameraman on an audiovisual experiment with fictional scenes. Drawing on the envisioned, dreamed of or feared scenarios, we scripted scenes with the participants that were then played by themselves in interchanged roles.

In this paper I want to discuss this methodology of a hybrid docfiction production in the context of futuremaking and the commoning of future visions through audiovisual projects.

Contribution short abstract:

This talk reflects on our participatory research with migrant women in Halle (Saale), focusing on the development of a photography exhibition. We discuss the project's ethnographic, ethical, and artistic methods, highlighting the power of visual anthropology in exploring migrant's common concerns.

Contribution long abstract:

In late summer 2023, we organized city walks in Halle (Saale) with a diverse group of volunteer migrant women as part of an empowerment project by DaMigra e.V. During these walks, we photographed urban spaces that sparked new memories or meanings, sharing personal stories of past and present. Our aim was to increase visibility, encourage social participation, and explore how migrant women experience everyday urban life in Halle, imagining shared futures in Germany.

The resulting photographs, accompanied by texts written by the photographers, were first exhibited at the Stadtmuseum Halle. The project was later expanded with illustrations and a podcast series based on interviews with four women, accessible on the website “Remind the Nearby*”. The website launch was followed by two public events where migrant women and civil society members discussed post-migration life in East Germany, addressing issues such as violence, discrimination, access to social services, isolation as well as conviviality and new opportunities.

In this contribution to the panel, we reflect on our experience conducting participatory and engaged research, which facilitated direct involvement of migrant women at every stage and was carried out in collaboration with several institutions. We address our methods and strategies and discuss how the ethnographic, ethical, and artistic aspects of the project have evolved in the process. Finally, we present visual materials, including those excluded in the curation, to delve deeper into the common concerns of participant women and to highlight the power of visual anthropology.

*https://remindthenearby.eth.mpg.de/en

Contribution short abstract:

This paper presents various collaborative initiatives with women artists working together on photography collections and visual practices of memory and activism in the context of exile and migration.

Contribution long abstract:

This paper presents various collaborative initiatives with women artists working together on photography collections and visual practices of memory and activism in the context of exile and migration.

Brought together in an open exhibitionary lab, these initiatives or practices of 'creative commons' (Miszczyński 2023) aimed at creating new or different forms of knowledge and communication among each other and with wider audiences.

The idea of '(un)communing the future and its visualities' thus offers innovative insights into how artists and anthropologists make use of visualities to develop creative strategies such as 'speculation', 'storytelling', 'writing', or 'exhibition practices' to build and strengthen commoning practices.

In this paper, I reflect on the possibilities and challenges of understanding the collaboration between artists and anthropologist as ‘forms of being-in-common that refuse or exceeds the logic of identity, state and subject’ (Walker 2020). When commoners from the fields of anthropology and art create creative commons of visualities for possible common futures, they use, organize, and take responsibility for ‘collective productive resources’ (Walker 2020). In this perspective, I want to discuss how the formation and interplay of such relationships are experienced, and whether their outcomes and material effects can shape social spaces and contribute to activist and memory cultures.

Contribution short abstract:

This project investigates the transformative potential of (audio)visual practices in operationalizing commoning for environmental justice. Rooted in Basandja cosmotheology and Bateson’s systems thinking, it addresses Congo’s water pollution from e-waste, visualizing relational energy futures.

Contribution long abstract:

This project explores the transformative potential of immersive (audio)visual practices in operationalizing commoning for environmental justice and sustainable energy futures. Collaborators in Kinshasa approach energy and spirit—abstracted and displaced within modern political ecology—as inherently interconnected. Focusing on water pollution in the Congo caused by e-waste, the project investigates Basandja cosmotheology, which understands materials as part of a symbiotic network that includes ancestral knowledge.

Water pollution in the Congo exemplifies broader extractivist paradigms. By treating water as both a symbolic and material foundation, the project connects Congolese activists with global stakeholders to address shared ecological challenges. Artists and activists repurpose e-waste into functional, creative, and symbolic artifacts, embodying ancestral intelligence and fostering cross-border connectivity through digital and intelligent technologies.

Through partnerships, the project develops educational formats and algorithms to improve resource management, strengthen community resilience, and promote equitable energy policies. AI systems, trained on traditional ecological knowledge, explore how Bateson’s systemic vision can be embodied in VR, enabling users to experience relational dynamics between humans and the environment. This approach aligns with Bédard’s (2024) argument that integrating indigenous knowledge with AI and VR can inform sustainable energy futures.

By engaging stakeholders through participatory workshops and immersive exhibitions, the project challenges technocratic narratives and extractivist frameworks. It emphasizes solidarity, reciprocity, and relational governance, advancing “everyday commoning” (Perrotti et al., 2020). Ultimately, the project highlights (audio)visual practices as vital tools for fostering inclusive, relational, and sustainable strategies to address ecological crises and reimagine energy futures.

Contribution short abstract:

The ethnographer invited actors of postmigration to describe how they view their participation in Germany’s green transition. The resulting "ethnographic portraits" painted by the researcher, use participatory, multimodal, art-based research to query people’s wider participation in society.

Contribution long abstract:

This art-based, multimodal research project investigates social perceptions of former East German urban environments undergoing structural and demographic change. Industrially-built, residential panel-block housing remains the most visible architectural legacy of state socialism in Germany. Following German reunification, former panel-block neighbourhoods experienced divestment and population decline. However, Großwohnsiedlungen, or large housing estates, became accessible to actors of postmigration from the former Socialist Bloc, or present-day Baltic, Central Asian, and Transcaucasian states. For actors of postmigration, the housing from which they came was not dissimilar from the one in which they settled, mobilizing familiar memories and lived experiences; however, owing to xenophobic tensions, these neighbourhoods came to be pejoratively termed "mentality ghettos," effectively equating where people lived with who they were. Panel-block Großwohnsiedlungen have also been critiqued for being the least sustainable type of housing, and present-day policymakers have worked to revitalize these neighbouhoods through green initiatives. However, a policy marked by sustainability and climate neutrality echoes the transition towards German re-unification, which repudiated socialist ideology and devalued East German lifestyles, and risks marginalizing actors of postmigration as full members of a pluralistic German society. Therefore, this multimodal anthropological project examined whether postmigrant actors feel themselves included in the green transition. During ethnographic fieldwork, research participants were asked how they wish to be represented in their urban environment. Taking inspiration from these interviews, the ethnographer then painted a series of portraits, sharing them with participants as a reciprocal gesture for their participation in the research.