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Paper Short Abstract:

I have recently been involved in two collaborative research-creation projects, one with 'neoandalusí' musicians and the other with activists for housing rights. Both projects focused on the creation of fictional stories. Can ethnographic fiction aid in managing the frictions mentioned in this panel?

Paper Abstract:

Collaborative approaches to ethnography are based on the idea of the necessity to build knowledge with, and not just about, specific groups of people. However, those who attempt to conduct research by opening up the knowledge construction process – thereby accepting the loss of (some) control over it – are well aware that different loci of enunciation, research hierarchies, discursive authorities, as well as simply the time and energy to invest, create disparities and tensions that often contradict the ideal purposes of collaborative research.

In two recent ethnographic research-creation projects in which I participated, one of the safety devices to facilitate participation and manage conflicts was the use of fictional storytelling. Somehow, fiction and frictions went hand in hand, and in this paper, I will use the experiences lived in these two projects to reflect on how the collaborative production of fictional narratives contributed to the management of some issues that arose.

The first project focuses on the creation of 'ethnographically grounded music videos'—a kind of musical ethnofictions in which musicians based in Granada explore the influences that the Muslim past has on their ‘neoandalusí’ imagination. The second experience involves the production of the first season of a radio drama written, produced, and performed by a group of activists from Stop Evictions Granada 15M (a grassroots social movement advocating for decent housing rights).