- Convenor:
-
Isaac Marrero Guillamón
(Universitat de Barcelona)
Send message to Convenor
- Format:
- Panel
- Sessions:
- Thursday 9 March, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
This panel experiments in speculative practice in the context of visual and multimodal anthropology. The name 'ethno-speculation' is proposed to refer to the ethnographically-grounded crafting of 'what-ifs', 'not-yets' and 'may-bes'.
Long Abstract:
This panel seeks to provide a welcoming forum for ethnographers engaged in experimenting with speculative methods. Broadly defined as the exploration of a given what-if and the crafting of hypothetical scenarios, speculation is a well-established practice in fields such as architecture, design or fine arts. Speculative methods can be used to stimulate the sense that 'things could be different' (Kuoni, 2014), thereby unsettling what passes as acceptable or inevitable (Dunne & Raby, 2013). Arguably, this is a concern shared by many anthropologists - after all, challenging the 'normal' has been one of the historical functions of ethnographic research. Indeed, Juan Francisco Salazar has recently posited that speculation and ethnography can be considered complementary practices, capable of enriching one another in an inquiry 'that enables research to follow forked directions, to both respond and anticipate phenomena that may not simply be held, observed and acted upon' (2017).
Acknowledging Jean Rouch's ethnofictions as a key influence and precedent, the name 'ethno-speculation' is proposed to refer to the ethnographically-grounded crafting of 'what-ifs', 'not-yets' and 'may-bes'. If ethnography may be described as the study of relations through relations, speculative ethnography would also involve creatively imagining and fostering new configurations of said relations.
This panel invites experiments in speculative practice in the context of visual and multimodal anthropology. Projects mobilising anti-colonial and queer sensibilities are particularly welcome. Works-in-progress and early-stage projects are also welcome. The aim is to share methodological and conceptual insights, as well as to discuss the political and affective dimensions of ethno-speculation.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 9 March, 2023, -sava saheli singh (York University)
Paper short abstract:
Screening Surveillance is a series of short near future fiction films created and co-produced by sava saheli singh that aims to raise awareness about how large organizations use data for surveillance and how these practices affect life chances and choices.
Paper long abstract:
Screening Surveillance (https://www.screeningsurveillance.com/) is a short near future fiction film series co-produced and created by sava saheli singh that aims to raise awareness about how large organizations use data for surveillance, and how these practices affect life chances and choices.
Speculative surveillance is an effective way to highlight the potential harms of invisible surveillance systems and these short films speculate surveillance futures and the effects of deeply embedded and connected surveillant systems on our everyday lives. The narratives were informed by ethnographic and other research that highlight the effects of surveillance on everyday life. The films were produced with support from and in collaboration with the Surveillance Studies Centre at Queen's University, and the eQuality Project and the AI+Society Initiative at the University of Ottawa. Intended as public education resources to spark discussion and extend understandings of surveillance, trust, and privacy in the digital age, each film highlights a different aspect of surveillance and the tensions that manifest when the human is interpreted by the machine.
#tresdancing speculates the effects of escalating surveillance and control through educational technology.
Blaxites imagines what would happen if our access to much needed healthcare is dictated by our healthcare provider's surveillance of our social media activities.
A Model Employee tackles the issues of workplace surveillance through wearable devices.
Frames imagines an all-knowing smart city as it fails to understand the actions of one of its citizen.
Dario Ranocchiari (Universidad de Granada)
Paper short abstract:
Building on two collaborative fiction-making experiences I had in Granada with musicians and with activists of a social movement, in this paper I reflect on how creative multimodal methods can help in co-creating shared ethnographic knowledges through a speculative approach to ‘reality’.
Paper long abstract:
The relations between anthropology and fiction have always been uneasy. A ‘fiction’ is something moulded, dependent of the creative action of the subject—quite the opposite with respect to the principle of observation-description-analysis that structured the epistemological boundaries of the discipline for more than a century. Building on two collaborative experiences of ethnographic fiction-making I had in the past three years, in this paper I will reflect on how creative multimodal methods can help in co-creating shared ethnographic knowledges through a speculative approach to ‘reality’.
The first experience concerns the production of ‘ethnographically grounded music videos’—a sort of musical ethnofictions in which musicians who are based in Granada deal with the influences that the Muslim past has on their ‘orientalist’ imaginary. The second experience is about the production of the 1st season of a radio-drama written, produced and performed by a group of activists of Stop Evictions Granada 15M—an assembly-based social movement that fights for decent housing rights.
In both cases, the creation of audiovisual or radiophonic fictional narratives constituted speculative occasions for (re)imagining together the past, the present and the future of very ‘real’ and often problematic situations.
Yuri Prado (Universidade de São Paulo)
Paper short abstract:
Through the presentation of the elaboration process of my films "Two Brothers" (2021) and "I Make My Own Time" (in progress), I intend to discuss the possibility of approaching the speculative practice of the Brazilian cook and composer Julio Valverde through both ethnobiography and filmmaking.
Paper long abstract:
When using the biographical approach in fieldwork, it is common to consider the biographied individual as someone who remembers (or recreates) his/her past experiences and externalises them through a narrative capable of making him/her construct a "self" (Gonçalves 2012). However, the ethnographer who engages in a long-term ethnobiographical work soon realises that his/her interlocutor not only focuses on what has been lived, but also speculates about what could have been done differently in his/her life or what the future will be like. In the case of the Brazilian cook and composer Julio Valverde, whose life story and music making are subjects of my postdoctoral research, his speculative practice became especially intense during the lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, a period in which he was unable to "make his own time". Through the presentation of the elaboration process of my films "Two Brothers" (2021) and "I Make My Own Time" (in progress), I intend to discuss the possibility of approaching Julio Valverde's speculative practice through both ethnobiography and filmmaking.