Contribution short abstract:

Körperkino explores a collaborative, embodied storytelling methodology situated at the intersection of art and anthropology, it highlights how commoning practices in storytelling can create pluralistic spaces that empower communities to co-create resilient narratives in response to the polycrisis.

Contribution long abstract:

Storytelling is a powerful tool for shaping identity, culture, and values, but it has historically been controlled by those in power to reinforce dominant ideologies, often silencing marginalized voices. Colonialism has long been a driving force behind narrative inequalities, dictating whose stories are told and who gets to tell them. This legacy persists today, particularly in the museum and media industries, where gatekeeping institutions hold the power to shape narratives, often profiting from marginalized voices while denying them agency

As a filmmaker and researcher, I have confronted the ethical question: Who gets to tell stories about whom? I have developed Körperkino, a collaborative, embodied storytelling methodology, as an ethnographic apparatus that explores intergenerational trauma, being liminal (in-between), and creating communities of resilience. The methodology also aligns with the turn toward affective encounters in political anthropology, offering insights into how embodied practices and material arrangements can transform storytelling spaces into political atmospheres of shared agency and relationality particularly those whose stories have historically been spoken about rather than with.

In the paper I’d like to share some insights, for eg., the three storytelling characters: Underdog, Allies and Megaphones, their parameters and how they interact with each other. Furthermore, the paper examines how their diverse perspectives overlap, coexist, and interact, highlighting the plurality of normative orders that shape these interactions. In the workshop, I would like to comment on how art and anthropology can collaboratively build common spaces for pluralistic storytelling, enabling communities to co-create resilient narratives to face today's polycrisis.