Short Abstract:

We revisit anthropology´s art of creating shared meanings through various modes of storytelling. Participants should focus on the intersection between the personal and the political and ask how the fictions of the 'subjective-in-between' may affect anthropology's future as an interactive practice.

Long Abstract:

This Lab re-examines ethnography as a multifarious practice of storytelling in which notions of fiction, memory, desires, and human connection converge in the intersection between the personal and political. Storytelling doesn't simply refer to the methodology of constructing linear narratives, but to a communicative interaction arising in what Arendt called the 'subjective-in-between' (Arendt, Hannah. 1958. The Human Condition). In ascribing a communal and pluralistic dimension to narrative, Arendt emphasises the importance of action in the public realm and highlights the ethical consequences of storytelling. We ask participants to engage, in practice, with the ethics and politics of storytelling (Jackson, Michael. 2013. The Politics of Storytelling) through diverse methods, techniques and conceptualisations of audio-visual-textual language. Contributions may include photo/essay films, montage, ethnofiction, (re-)enactments of stories, short interactive documentaries, and others formats, stimulating discussion on the moral, conceptual, and political features inherent in anthropological activity. We welcome provocative and collaborative storytelling proposals asking how their transformative qualities might affect our future as interacting subjects.

To have an idea of number, we invite those interested in participating to send their proposals to angela.torresan@manchester.ac.uk. Please let us know what kind of material you wish to bring (photos, paper, pencils, video, sound recording equipment, etc) and any other resources you may require.