Short Abstract:

This panel seeks to explore the notions of ethnographic failure and refusals within the context of graphic methods in the field. We aim to demystify "mastery" in graphic ethnography in particular, and anthropological fieldwork in general, so to embrace discomfort rather than solve it.

Long Abstract:

This panel takes to its core the recent resurgence and enthusiasm for drawings, doodles, sketches, comics, visuals and other practices anchored in graphic ethnography, to redefine the relationship between anthropologists and fieldwork. We see ethnography itself, and graphic endeavors in particular, as places of discomfort and unsettlement to be embraced rather than solved. In particular, our focus is on failure as a feminist and queer orientation (Visweswaran 1994, Halberstam 2011), and refusals as rearrangements of the possible and techniques of knowing (Simpson 2007; Hartman 2019, Singh 2018). By demystifying "mastery" in graphic ethnography in particular, and anthropological fieldwork in general, we find the ideas of failure and refusal particularly generative to rethink how we approach both 'practices' outside their normative frameworks. The panel aims at an informal conversation that invites graphic ethnographers of all 'levels' of (dis)comfort and (un)know-how. We are looking for people like us, who seem to constantly try, fail, fall, stumble, and seem to excel at nothing but stick figures and social faux-pas. We welcome those who seem to have long figured it out only to be hit by a door knocked on their face, an ever-forever unread message, or the all-too-real: “You can’t possibly be drawing this”. Ultimately what we want is to think together about creative and generative frameworks that allow a space of imagination unbound by the “good anthropologist” category of lurking hegemonies.

Propose paper