We are witnessing a new wave of ethnographic, multimodal creativity inspired by comics, graphic novels, and creative visual arts. The growth of this "graphic-ethnographic practice" has been unprecedented and fast, encouraging some to speak of a "graphic-ethnographic turn." Although we resist the temptation to circumscribe this expanding creativity in narrow definitional parameters, we feel compelled to think and reflect about its representational affordances: graphic experimentation in ethnography is enhancing reflexivity, collaboration, and public dissemination. The articles in this collection demonstrate some of the thought-provoking perspectives and representational styles that are currently available. We invite you to browse, compare, and multiply (in your work) the tools and experimental points of view we gained from our practice.
Posts in This Series
Introduction: Graphic Ethnography on the Rise
Graphic ethnography has grown exponentially in the last decade. We have seen an unprecedented number of graphic-ethnographic experiments, taking place in divers... More
Illustrating Anthropology
The full exhibition can be viewed online: https://illustratinganthropology.com/ The artistic works featured in this graphic virtual tour are listed here in orde... More
Graphic Ethnography: The Trouble with Typologies
[1] Williams encouraged us to avoid singular and closed academic narratives, a point he made before the corresponding anthropological critique of the 1980s; see... More
Adventures in Diagrammatic Reasoning—A Few Notes
The evidence of a (re)turn to images in the academy is everywhere. One can pull one's hand through the air of current reference and quickly hold numerous texts ... More
Ways of Seeing Light in Dark Times with Graphic Ethnography: A Reflection
Ways of Seeing Light in Dark Times with Graphic Ethnography: A Reflection By Alisse Waterston Illustrations by Charlotte Corden Truly, I live in dark times…he w... More
Companion Images
Articles in anthropology tend to derive their authority by reiterating a standard form. The citation of certain prominent—and often, but not always, brilliant—s... More
Lissa’s Multimodal Ethnography and Revolutionary Citation
Lissa’s multimodal ethnoGRAPHIC fictional form enabled us to forge new and layered citational practices, merging the visual, verbal, and vernacular.[1] This was... More
Drawing Anthropology: A Couple of Things I Am Learning
In my early teens, I spent my entire allowance in the local comic book store. Then, at the age of sixteen, I discovered music and my interest in reading (and at... More
Moments of Lightheartedness: Graphic Ethnography Unsettling the Weightiness of Fieldwork
Content Warning: This essay discusses experiences of wartime sexual violence.... More
Graphic Ethnography: Tuning into the Melody
Illustrations by Ben Thomas“If you don’t have the data and you don’t have the story, you don’t have what it takes to move people” —Brené Brown I love hearing an... More
The Making of a Page from the King of Bangkok
Trying to reconstruct in words the process behind four years of the collaborative ethnographic, archival, graphic, and editorial work for The King of Bangkok wo... More