re:think - a journal of creative ethnography
Welcome to re:think: a peer-reviewed, open-access, interdisciplinary journal exploring the potential of ethnography as a form of creative research practice and expression. Our objective is to provide a platform for undergraduate student work which seeks to better understand the everyday life of ourselves and others through ethnographic research. We invite submissions in the form of academic essays, short informal/reflective pieces, short films and photo-essays.
The Morality of Football-Betting in its Intersections with Capitalism and Social Reproduction
Gambling involves a mixture of luck, knowledge, skill and nerve. Through interview discussions with my informant Stew I seek to analyse the ideologies of economy, money, and exchange that interplay into forming the moralities and motivations for Sports betting. Furthermore, Sports-betting via the online bookmaker Paddy Power involves multiple moralities that shape the practice around accumulation and leisure. These forces speak to larger capitalist and societal moralities and spheres of exchange including the nature of money as begetting more money. However, the goal of my informant is to combine pleasure and knowledge in what becomes a socially reproductive activity.
Political thought in a student housing Co-operative
This ethnography came out of a project by pre-honours Social Anthropology students, studying the space of the Edinburgh Student Housing Co-Operative in the beginning of 2020. I spent time renovating the basement with members of the Co-Operative and spoke with them about the political leanings of members, as the public perception of the Co-Operative is that it is based on socialist ideologies. I describe my time at the Co-Operative and discuss the methodologies I used to gain data. Finally, I conclude with a discussion of the role politics plays in the decision to become a member of the Co-Operative.
This paper builds on short-term fieldwork at an urban day shelter in Brussels which provides affordable showers and other essential services to homeless and undocumented people, respectively sans-abris and sans-papiers. In dialogue with Simone Weil’s writings on attentionality and ordinary ethics literature, this paper firstly proposes that ethical dispositions informing workers’ and volunteers’ navigation of the shelter’s volatile spaces often grow out of the imperatives of the everyday, rather than being imposed upon practices as external principles. Secondly, it frames everyday ethical action as what philosopher Laugier calls a ‘politics of the ordinary’. As such, this paper offers ethnographic insight into modes of social organising that embrace the fluctuating character of the everyday.
ordinary ethics, attention, politics of the ordinary, Belgium, precarity
Copyright (c) 2023 Jeanne Elisabeth Coppens
Algorithms, aesthetics and agency: An exploration into the performance of the self amongst young women on TikTok.
This is an exploration into how the self is performed on TikTok. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, TikTok - a social media app at the forefront of youth-culture - burst onto the screens of millions users. On the hilarious, inventive, frustrating and saddening ForYouPage (FYP), short-style videos play one after the other. I will discuss the performance of the self under digital conditions using Goffman’s (1959) foundational work on the presentation of self. I follow Mahmood’s (2005) definition of agency to explain how TikTok affords its users certain freedoms. However, this sense of agency is complicated by strict standards of beauty which are propagated on TikTok via trends and aesthetics and ultimately, made valuable through Likes.
TikTok, performance of self, aesthetics, trends, selfie videos, agency
Copyright (c) 2023 Eloise Lucia Burchell
A trip to time-space through street art: a message on-hold
Street art, including graffiti, tags, stencils, art visualization and art installations, usually denounce an actual situation and conveys messages related to the societal, cultural, economic and political scene. Sometimes, it takes up a playful form, inviting individuals to interact with their direct environment. Our photo essay consists of photos taken in different places and at times. We invite readers to select some of the following pictures and reconstruct a ‘collective’ message to the world.
street art, urban messages, story making, inspiration
Copyright (c) 2023 Lamprini Chartofylaka
Making the Market: The Characters of Izmailovo Market
Abstract: What are the social processes that lead up to the moment of sale in Izmailovo Market, Moscow? Selling may seem like a ubiquitous practice, but it is one constructed in the context and incorporates localised understandings of labour, community and morality. In a post-Socialist setting, the social relations between sellers will illuminate the ways in which they perform labour ‘trud’. I will demonstrate how there is a coexistence of both individual pursuit and collective considerations. Subsequently, these aims should not be seen as opposing - as selling is an embodied skill that the person facilitates. Key words: Market, Post-Socialist, Economy, Selling, Moral
Abstract This paper is about the relations between work, rhythm and life course among a group of elderly members of a rice paddy collective in Kyoto, Japan. Through the stories of people’s professional work, personal lives and recreational activities, I portray and discuss their understanding of aging and elderhood. Also, by illustrating the rhythms of two elderly people on their retirement and in their post-work activities, I argue that underlying the particular changes of their rhythms is their reminiscences of their working lives. Key words: rhythm, aging, life course, professional work
Ethnographic drawings and poetry based on Thom van Dooren’s article ‘Vultures and their People in India: Equity and Entanglement in a Time of Extinction’ (2011).
This article is based on a short ethnography conducted on the 10the day of the Hindu festival ‘Vijaya Dashami’ in Nepal. Although, symbolism is important, I use a phenomenological approach to demonstrate that this ritual shows reverence not just to religion but social order and kinship. In doing so, I discover that it is ‘disorder’ or the unconventional aspects of the ritual, that make the ritual a ritual. I hope this article encourages a move away from bounded definitions of rituals and ritual ‘order’, towards fluid understandings of ritual as ‘self-organised’ and entangled with society and culture, whilst adding to anthropological debates around theory and practice.
This short text is a simple reflection on the meanings and importance of silence. Starting from the sensory experience of silence he had with the local informant at Kennin-ji in Kyoto, Japan, the author reflects on the various meanings of silence. On the one hand, the therapeutic and introspective silence of a temple garden immersed in the city; on the other hand, a fake silence, made of sounds and noises, that does not generate quiet, but anxiety and social distance.
“My Body is My Tool”... and the Pen is Mine! : An Exploration of Feminist Visual Practises
During my research with women performers at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, I adopted drawing as my primary tool for collecting and analysing data. I found that the best way to capture the value of theatrical performances was through an effective visual medium. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to illustrate the potential of drawing to be feminist tool. My informants created whimsical and often absurd narratives of women’s violation and dissent. With the help from my drawings, I shall put the themes of vulgarity and vulnerability into discussion with the ability of theatre to politically effect.
Expressions of Sacred Cultural Capital : A Spatial Temporal Exploration of Bengali Islam
This short photo essay presents an aspect of work in progress. First hand observational notes and photo recordings were taken around the socially structured field habitus of the East London Borough of Tower Hamlets, it’s religious spheres of sacred cultural capital dispensation i.e. religious ritual ceremonies, social meetings and Mosques during 2012- 2015 and 2016 -19. The photo essay aimed to capture an important perspective in the adoption and reproduction of religiously coloured expressions of sacred cultural capital the significance and social order of faith and how this has shaped and marshalled the social actors in the space they occupy.
Bangladeshi, Bourdieu, British, Islam, Immigration, Habitus
Running into trouble : Exploring the negotiation of public space between running groups and other users
This paper looks to investigate how running groups function in public space, both in terms of how they find their way and how they interact with other users. It builds on theories of wayfinding and the study of mobilities to examine how different spaces change how group running occurs. The research is based on the use of head-mounted video footage of group runs to provide insight to the practice and experience of group running in the city. In this way, this paper seeks to engage with efforts to utilise more mobile methodologies within ethnography.
Painting the Self in a Study of Modernity : Using Art in Anthropological Research
This essay proposes the application of the concepts of ‘small’ and ‘big’ stories theorised by Lyotard (1984) to the discipline of visual anthropology, by focusing on the issues of ‘generalisation’ and ‘individuality’. The primary question on which this work is focused is: ‘how do we integrate individual case-studies with generalisations in anthropological research in a way that provides a balanced account of small and big stories?’. To answer this question, the author shares the theoretical and methodological challenges of using art within her current research on Nepal. The use of art in anthropology has been proposed as a method of enquiry in recent years (Sweetman, 2009; Sullivan, 2012; Tine, 2017) for its ability to convey a deeper understanding of non-verbal contents than can be achieved through text alone (Cox & Wright, 2012; Prosser & Loxley, 2008). Consequently, a revision in the aims, methods and expressive tools of the discipline (Clifford & Marcus, 1986; Marcus & Fisher, 1999; El Guindi, 2011; Foster, 1995) and a discussion on the topics of ‘subjectivity’, ‘generalisation’ and ‘individuality’ in ethnography and ethnology is now urgent. Furthermore, the issue of how to incorporate and represent all of the individual stories taken from field research, which has been central in modern anthropological debate (Geertz, 1988), must now be dealt with in the new context of anthropological/artistic production. This article suggests that the artist-anthropologist will have to give an account of all the relations occurring within the research project, including the subjectivity of the author and the mediation between generalisation and individual narratives. To achieve this, the use of a personal style and of a clear semiotic codification system will be necessary.
generalisation; individual; socio-cultural anthropology; subjectivity; visual methods.
Soft Activism : Exploring pedagogic engagement in the ‘clean-tech playground’
Abstract:This essay will explore pedagogic engagement in a Dutch sustainability site, De Ceuvel. Self-labelled as the “clean-tech playground”, De Ceuvel is a publically accessible site which houses scientists, creatives and a café, and whose ambitions focus on the transition towards a sustainable future, given the context of the current ecological crisis. Drawing upon a two-month research internship, I suggest that sensory and aesthetic engagements are fundamental to the site’s function, allowing pedagogic transmission. I introduce the concept ‘soft activism’ throughout my discussion. Key words: sustainability, ‘soft activism’, pedagogy, aesthetics, senses.
Snapshots of Sanctuary : Self-definitions of immigrant support in Eugene, Oregon
Summary: Since its inception in the 1980s, the US ‘Sanctuary Movement’ has been the source of contentious political debate and academic discussion. Although originally a clergy-based effort of transnational activism, ‘sanctuary’ has since diffused beyond the bounds of any one movement or social denomination. In this ethnography, ‘sanctuary’ is examined as a term inflected in diverse, instrumental, and meaningful ways by those participating in immigrant-support groups and non-profits in Eugene, Oregon. Research was conducted over a two-month period from August through September 2019 and funded by the London School of Economics’ Summer Ethnographic Project.
Sanctuary, asylum-seekers, undocumented immigrants, social activism, volunteering, US immigration policy, moral regimes, contested legality.
Scripted Politics : An analysis of the Scottish State's reliance of Charisma
This essay analyses the goings on of First Minster’s Questions in the Scottish Parliament. Through the realisation that this spectacle is largely semi-scripted I make the argument that the idea of the state relies on the charisma of events like this in order to encourage engagement, thereby reinforcing its existence. I argue that the alternative of pitting facts and figures against each other without the spectacle lacks the charisma to engage an audience in the idea of the state.
Power, Scottish Parliament, Charisma, State
Caring for the dead : affective relationship between people and human remains in Aguni, Okinawa
This essay will examine the affective relationships people have with human remains and by extent, the souls of the deceased in Aguni, Okinawa. In conceptualising care, I will explore how senkotsu (bone washing) and other emerging mortuary practices perpetuate and reconfigure the cycle of care between the living and the dead. The element of fear and disgust present in these interactions will also be explored, as such notions centre around these care practices. I demonstrate that with the use of senses such as touch, people forge intimate and affective relationships with the dead. I will also discuss the emergence of new practices of senkotsu and how cremation plays a part in that. Furthermore, I will explore how changing practices alter the ways people fashion caring and affective intimacy with the dead.
Searching for Miss Menzies : Tracing the ghosts of eighteenth-century sex workers in Edinburgh.
Historical records allow the lingering presences of people of the past to be traced. This study documents a search for recorded eighteenth-century sex workers in Edinburgh, assessing whether ghosts can be brought under anthropological inquiry. I find that through informing myself of the history of these women, I was able to construct a sense of their presence. Insofar as I created these ghosts, I argue that the political dispositions of the ethnographer drive attempts to locate the past in the present. I conclude by reflecting on the ethnographic significance of this attempt at conducting an ethnography of the spectral.
My paper is concerned with decolonising contemporary museological practice, specifically in relation to ethnographic collections at the Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver. I propose that display practices can be reformed through Indigenous collaboration with artefacts and visitors critically engaging with their display. I recognise that decolonisation must happen on a structural basis with institutions revoking their authority to Indigenous groups. Reclaiming this power grants the autonomy to decide how their collections are displayed and represented. I also explore ways for visitors to decolonise the space introspectively, by becoming critically aware of their own colonial gaze – how they perceive, critique and analyse museum spaces.
museology, First Nations, free choice learning, museum display
Ruination and the Affective Presence of the Past in relation to the Beit Beirut in Lebanon
The following essay is based on fieldnotes I took during my dissertation fieldwork in Beirut, Lebanon. It focuses on Beit Beirut, a building used by snipers during the height of the Lebanese Civil War, but that has now been repurposed as a museum and symbol of remembrance. The essay highlights that this renovated building that purposefully still bears the scars of war on its walls, results in a tension between moving forward whilst making sure future generations remember the past. This is made all the more uncomfortable as for some this is a reminder of a past that is impossible to forget anyway.
Ballroom culture (created by queer, transgender, black and latinx communities in America) has gained popularity throughout Europe in past decades. These photographs depict the community currently growing ballroom culture in Scotland. This queer community destabilises gender and kinship norms, before redefining gender and kinship as collective processes requiring labour. The formation of kinship bonds through labour ‘queers’ notions of family and enables the Scottish community to feel they are maintaining ballroom culture in an appropriate way. Their commitment to ‘authentically’ growing the ballroom scene provides insight into the use of ‘culture’ by marginalised people as a socio-political tool, suggesting its potency out with anthropological discourse.
This essay reflects on the politics of abandoned buildings juxtaposed with memorials to a thriving industrial past whilst walking through Leith. I argue that these abandoned buildings reveal capitalism's inherent obsolescence and counteract its teleological version of time. Drawing on Ingold’s notion of a “taskscape”, I show how multiple temporalities are enfolded into these decaying structures, and how they provide a canvas for contemporary political critique. These ruins provide a counterpoint to the view of Leith that is crystallized in the public artwork, or lieux de memoire (Nora 1989) valorizing its maritime history.
Mobile phone use and social media have become the norm in modern societies around the world. In an attempt to connect with the world out there, people sometimes neglect present time and immediate environments. For some, this is a way 'in' and for others a way 'out'. This photographic ethnography investigates the contradiction between connection and disconnection in people's desire to maintain relationships, stay informed or be entertained.
What does gun ownership mean to armed women in a city in the Midwestern United States? Gun culture is an aspect of American life which has been neglected in anthropological literature. I examine how armed women I met and shot with told me how carrying guns ‘empowers’ them. Firearms allow them to break culturally produced stereotypes concerning their capacity for violence, allowing self-defence and facilitating empowerment. However, I argue that female gun ownership simultaneously reproduces heteronormativity as is relies on the assumption that women are inherently vulnerable, needing protection. Guns, a symbolically masculine object, are ‘the equaliser’ for women.
During my time working at a clinic in rural Haiti, I noticed one of the doctors was engaging in a rather odd practice: prescribing cough syrup at completely inappropriate times. I attempt to analyze such a practice, revealing how it can control how pain is experienced and expressed. I also discuss the histrionic nature of this practice and how it helps perpetuate trust when combined with other situational nuances. To conclude I discuss how it reflects medical humanitarianism on a global scale and the implications of power that come with it.
Although a population recognised externally for their itinerancy, the mobility of Gypsy Travellers in Scotland has been fundamentally misunderstood. Endowed with creative power, mobility exists for Gypsy Travellers not only in times of transit, but continuously through an imagined connection to the spirit of travel. The dominant settled population’s understanding of movement, which has informed past policy-making, has overlooked the significance of mobility in making meaning, resulting in a system within which the travel of Gypsy Travellers has been effectively illegitimated, and their community further marginalised. By challenging notions of place as fixed by necessity, we can see that ‘place’ can be created through movement, which occurs physically as well as through imagination and anticipation.
This essay explores how student members of an LGBTQ+ rights organisation discursively navigate queer identifications and concepts of belonging, based on fieldwork conducted in Quezon City, Philippines. I argue that elements of ‘gay lingo’, one of many Filipino LGBTQ+ argots, establish interlocutors as members of both LGBTQ+ communities and ‘post-colonial’ Philippines at large, amidst prevailing cultural logics that situate them as external Others. Appropriating and subverting hegemonic structures of language, they utilise ‘local’ linguistic patterns and reference ‘global’ queer connectivity in their endeavour to embed themselves within both spheres, illustrating that global concepts are inevitably syncretised through local contexts.
An extract of fieldnotes is presented from the first ethnographic research I participated in: a transect walk with Mormon missionaries on Middle Meadow Walk. In a short reflection I look at some of the issues that arose when leaving the books and lecture halls behind, and instead being confronted with human beings. In particular, issues around the self in the field are discussed, and some further questions raised concerning the nature of anthropological interpretation.
Reflexivity, the self in the field, religion, decolonisation.
Spectral Beings and Being Spectral: Ghostly Enchantment within Edinburgh’s Ghost Tours
Ghost tourism is big business in Scotland and in Edinburgh specifically. This paper is based off ethnographic fieldwork conducted with a number of the Scottish capital’s ghost tour companies. It is concerned primarily with the performance and embodiment of spectrality by ghost tour guides, which is achieved through the use of theatrical techniques meant to immerse tour-goers into the ghostly. It is this immersion that marks ghost tours out as enchantment; a more special experience than the mundane manner of everyday existence, which goes some way to explaining the popularity of ghost tourism.
Spectrality, Ghosts, Performance, Theatre, Immersion