Contribution short abstract:

This paper traces the gaps in the textual, aural, and visual qualities of experimental ethnographic media produced with refugee youth in Iran. While documentaries often edit away from moments of audio-textual-visual incoherence, through ethnography, this paper examines incoherence as revelation.

Contribution long abstract:

In one scene, a girl’s subtitled voice narrates neighborly love and care, but the visuals give us the sense that she is hiding behind a parked car, that she is timid, or even perhaps afraid in her surroundings. In another scene, a girl’s subtitled voice speaks of a garden where she feels meditative calm, solitary respite; but the pace of her words are rushed, they are choppy, repetitive or panicked even. This paper traces the gaps between the textual, aural, and visual qualities of this media produced in an experimental ethnographic project with displaced refugee youth in Iran. While traditional documentaries might re-collect footage and edit away from moments where the audio/text and visuals fail to cohere, through ethnography, this paper examines incoherence as revelation. Moments of incoherence demonstrate the conditions of participatory production with refugee youth.