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Paper short abstract

This paper reflects on the ways in which a documentary can inform and expand ethnographic research across time, space, and alternative publics, taking as a case study the documentary "Los sueños que compartimos", which traces transatlantic resonances between activist groups in Europe and Mexico.

Paper long abstract

This paper examines the extension of ethnographic inquiry through artistic means, focusing on the circulation of the documentary Los sueños que compartimos (The Dreams We Shared) by Valentina Leduc Navarro in pedagogical and activist spaces. The film retraces the journey of a Zapatista delegation across Europe in 2021, connecting with other “struggles for life” and showing how ecological struggles resonate and support one another across geographical contexts.

The analysis draws on ethnographic fieldwork during the film’s production in Mexico (2021) and on its circulation in France (2025) in educational and activist settings. The paper argues that research combining artistic and ethnographic practices contributes to producing public arenas, as conceptualized in pragmatic sociology (Dewey; Cefaï; Zask). These arenas are not mere sites of research visibility but spaces of collective experimentation where cooperation, conflict, and politicization unfold.

Rather than existing outside the inquiry, the film’s making and circulation constitute moments of knowledge production, reconfiguring the temporalities, spatialities, and publics of ethnography. Through the interplay of production, circulation, and fieldwork, these public arenas extend the creation of commons, civic engagement, and new social ecologies already present in artistic and activist practices.

This paper thus reflects on how filmmaking can expand modes of political fabrication, challenging conventional boundaries of ethnographic inquiry and rethinking the anthropologist’s position within the field.