Paper short abstract:

Using examples from my own anthropological drawing practice, I outline the unique analytical possibilities afforded by graphic ethnography, focusing on ethnographic representation, the authority of the social analyst, and the relationship between images and text.

Paper long abstract:

Graphic ethnographic is an emerging ethnographic field that relies on sketching, hand-made or digital drawings, but also the altering of photographic images to generate social analysis. In this paper I argue that graphic ethnography should not be conceived merely a medium of illustration, but rather as an analytical approach on its own right. Using diverse examples from my own engagements with anthropological drawing, I demonstrate how graphic ethnography provides us with a unique analytical lens to rethink and renegotiate ethnographic representation, the authority of the social analyst, and the hegemony of text. I show how drawing for graphic ethnography can upset or reverse the relationship between images and text, where text is becoming a medium of illustration, supporting, but not necessarily dominating, the delivery of an analytical narrative. I also provide examples of how the practice of drawing graphic characters may enhance an awareness of essentialism, reduction and stereotype, opening the way to unanticipated theoretical directions.