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Lab short abstract

This Lab explores fanzine-making as an anthropological method to translate theory, share lived experience, and co-produce knowledge. Participants will collaboratively create a fanzine on polarization through hands-on, collective practice.

Lab long abstract

This double Lab proposes fanzine-making as an experimental anthropological method that bridges theory, lived experience, and collective knowledge production. Fanzines—low-tech, tactile, and accessible—have long circulated as tools for counter-narratives, political expression, and situated knowledge. In anthropology, they can function simultaneously as a medium of translation, documentation, and participatory inquiry.

The Lab will be structured as a hands-on workshop spread across two consecutive sessions. Participants will first collectively choose one topic related to the conference’s overarching theme of polarization from three proposed options. They will then divide into three sub-groups, each engaging with a distinct anthropological use of the fanzine: translating an academic article or theoretical argument into an accessible, visual and textual fanzine format; collecting and transmitting first-hand témoignages, observations, or experiences related to the chosen topic; experimenting with the fanzine as a participatory method for collective reflection and co-thinking.

The sessions will alternate between discussion, making, and sharing moments. The Lab emphasizes collaborative learning, experimentation, and process rather than polished outputs. By the end, participants will have collectively produced a draft fanzine and reflected on the epistemological, ethical, and political implications of fanzine-making in anthropological research and public engagement.