Paper Short Abstract:

This presentation explores a multimodal performative memoir in the study of grief during the COVID-19 pandemic. I argue that collaboration can be a valuable approach to the memoir creation process, mobilizing public feelings of grief to constitute a practice of ethnographic worldmaking.

Paper Abstract:

This presentation explores the potentials and challenges of collaboration in multimodal ethnographic research. I focus on my current project, which employs multimodal performative memoir in the study of grief and traumatic loss during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multimodal performative memoir is an approach to research-creation, situated at the intersection of anthropology, performance studies, and the creative arts. My project bridges elements of memoir, ethnography, live theatre performance, and post-performance audience discussion to study the social, political, and ethical implications of extensive individual and societal grief following the COVID-19 pandemic. It is based on ethnographic field notes and diaries recorded between 2021 and 2024, documenting my lived experience of traumatic grief following the death of my three close relatives from COVID. This presentation includes a performative reading of excerpts from my memoir and reflections on the role of collaboration in its development – from inception, through writing, to public presentation. While memoir is typically considered to be a solitary creation, I argue that collaboration can be a valuable approach to the multimodal memoir creation process that can provide important ethnographic insights into how individuals experience, imagine, and act on their grief. The frictions of collaboration can also constitute a generative force that mobilizes public feelings of grief as a practice of ethnographic worldmaking.