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Paper short abstract:

This paper reevaluates speculative ethnographic fiction through the lens of gender studies and literary criticism. I argue that speculative fiction can be seen not only as a mode of writing ethnography but a research practice in and of itself that is rooted in collaborative and feminist ethics.

Paper long abstract:

In recent decades, some anthropologists have turned to fiction as a speculative mode of representation. Its appeal rests partially on how fiction, through its power of evocation, reveals the troubled relationship anthropology has with the politics and ethics of its primary method, ethnography. However, the use of creative writing is still met with reluctance. When used by researchers, it is often labeled as experimental or far from reality, and too often, "fiction” is evoked to discredit academic work from the fringes of the discipline. The boundary with fiction is still often used as a litmus test for what is real ethnographic research.

Fiction writing, however, can not only provide alternative modes of representing reality or inspire creative tinkering with ethnographic prose. It can also offer new ways of projecting academic futures. Within a context of individualistic research paradigms, I argue that fiction, through its speculative power, provides a means of challenging what feminist scholar Barbara Babcock calls the “absolute singular” (Babcock 1995). In detaching itself from the obligation of the real, speculative fiction fosters, I argue, creative and collaborative modes of writing that are feminist at their core and have the potential to challenge anthropology’s individualistic and results-driven publishing culture.