Paper short abstract:

This contribution presents the collaborative work carried out over four years with the artist Coex'ae Bob in Botswana. It retraces the methodological and scriptural paths that have led to elaborate alternative investigation methods and modes of representation.

Paper long abstract:

In the wake of the many debates that followed the crisis of representation and more recently the calls for a decolonisation of research, more and more researchers have started to critically reflect on the issues involved in doing research on the visual expression of Others in contexts marked by unequal relationships (Rutten, Dienderen & Stoetaert, 2013 ; Schneider, 2013 ; Baracchini, 2019). In the wake of the sensory turn (Pink, 2009; Ingold, 2011) and the reflections led by the Modernity/Coloniality group (Mignolo, 2001, 2015 ; Quijano & Ennis, 2000), new modes of collaborations between artists and ethnographers have emerged. Alternative models of knowledge production have been developed, exploring notably the possibilities of an anthropology "beyond text", and the creation of spaces open to horizontal dialogue between epistemes from different tradition (Schneider, 2013 ; Flynn, 2016).

Based on a field research conducted since 2010 with San artists from Botswana, this contribution presents the collaborative work carried out over four years with the artist Coex'ae Bob. It retraces the methodological and scriptural paths that have led to elaborate alternative investigation methods and modes of representation.