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Paper short abstract

This paper presents multimodal projects that combine/juxtapose analytical and sensory modes of knowing, exploring how diverse expressive forms can create (long-term) dialogues between researchers, participants, creative practitioners and audiences, including people with visual impairments.

Paper long abstract

This paper presents two experiments in multimodal ethnography that combine and juxtapose different analytical and sensory modes of knowing and collaboration. The first builds on ongoing ethnographic research started in 2020 that investigates how the pandemic has influenced the lives of migrant women in (Northern) Ireland, both during and after the end of the global health crisis (Svašek 2023a and b). Layered outputs and improvisations include online and face-to-face interviews (2020-2026), paintings from a distance (2020-2021), painting-poems (2021-2022), musical compositions by the British composer Tristan Sparks (2025-2026) and dance improvisations by the Chinese dancer Liuliu (2025-2026). The second project is a collaboration between anthropology students from Queen's University Belfast, the Royal National Institute of Blind People Northern Ireland, the British singer-songwriter Joe Kenny and composer Tristan Sparks (2025-2026). The outputs include multimodal practices of discussion, a multisensorial walk, and music production. The paper critically explores how diverse expressive forms and embodied and affective knowledge can create (long-term) dialogues between researchers, participants, creative practitioners and audiences.

Svašek, Maruška 2023a ‘Ethnography as creative improvisation: Exploring methods in (post) pandemic times’, HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 13(1): 101-127.

Svašek, Maruška 2023b Pandemic times: Nine acts, Anthropology and Humanism 48(2): 1-13.