Contribution short abstract:

We introduce ‘poetic resonance’ as a methodological contribution to better sound out sensorial and embodied insights in ethnographic data. We offer concrete processes of decoding affective meat relations and group creativity to make dialogues around the politics of analysis more accessible.

Contribution long abstract:

Working with transmodal material in ethnographic research complicates the alchemist process that is analysis to find what is not automatically apparent due to its embodied, sensory nature. In this submission, we introduce the analytical tool and concept of ‘poetic resonance’ as a possible new way to understand and produce knowledge by intertwining ethnography with the practice-as-research approach of poetry and poetic thinking. We define poetic resonance as a practice of ‘sounding out’ for the slippery and nebulous aspects of embodied and sensorial data. When applied, poetic resonance allows us to gain a deeper understanding and sense of connection to these slippery and nebulous phenomena that goes beyond textual translation. We discuss our experiments with poetic resonance - and how it allowed us to keep with the multimodal and sensory complexities of our field studies - through two case studies: affective relations around meat and meat reduction in the Nordic context and collaborative practices of creativity in Danish makerspaces. Using these case studies, we highlight the praxis and concrete process of ethnographic analysis. In doing so, we offer poetic resonance as an innovative methodological contribution which allows for an alternative approach to decoding, interpreting, and translating the embodied and sensorial in empirical material. Additionally, we offer the discussion of our own analytical process to make the politics of our decisions transparent, concrete, and accessible for dialogue.