Multi Modality Workshop—The Visual & Performative Ethnography—UPenn—Fri, March 20, 2015
Channel: HowlRound Theatre Commons
Date: 2015-06-21

Intercession, Multi-Modality Workshop (Led by camra Penn: Sofia Chaparro, Ethiraj Gabriel Dattatreyan)


Visual And Performative Ethnographic Research: New Directions In The Humanities, Social Sciences, And Law
Over the past twenty years, we have seen an “ethnographic turn” across a range of disciplines, not only within the humanities and social sciences, but also in professional schools, fine arts, and architecture. 

Whether in business, medicine, or law, photography, sculpture, or performance art, qualitative social science methods have become more common as scholars and practitioners seek insights into the everyday worlds and ideas of those with whom they work. At the same time, contemporary developments in technology—including inexpensive cameras, editing software, and internet platforms for sharing work—have made new representational techniques widely available and familiar, especially to younger generations now moving into academia. As a result, researchers and practitioners across a wide range of fields are relying on a combination of old and new technologies to advocate for and work with communities.  At the same time, researchers are reexamining the relationships they build with these communities, openly discussing the public responsibilities of the University in the twenty-first century. 

These transformations have forced us to confront new questions: What tools for research and communication should we offer the next generation of PhD students? How are we thinking about what the digital age means for humanistic, social scientific, and professional inquiry and practice in today’s world?

This cross-school interdisciplinary symposium is designed to create a public conversation during which we deliberate several key questions raised by these trends: 

1) What the “ethnographic turn” means across the disciplines, and how do we think about “visuality” and “performativity” in relation to research generated ethnographically and in collaboration with communities?

2) What role are new technologies (both material and embodied) playing in the research process, and what kinds of archives do they create?

3) How might we institutionalize inter-disciplinary, multi-modal work within the academy in a way that collaborates with community organizations?

4) What standards and evaluative criteria can be established for this kind of work, and how can we translate this approach in a way that makes it legible to others when it comes time for doctoral students to enter the job market or for junior faculty to be promoted?

University of Pennsylvania presents The Visual and Performative Ethnography Symposium livestreaming on the global, commons based peer-produced HowlRound TV network on Friday, March 20, 2015 from 9am EDT to 5pm EDT (New York) / 6am PDT to 2pm PDT (Los Angeles) / 13:00 GMT to 21:00 GMT (London). 

Join us as notable academics from across the United States generate a public conversation regarding visuality, performativity, ethnography, and 21st century multi-modal research. In Twitter, use hashtag #pivpe. 

Participants:
Regina Austin (UPenn), Herman Beavers (UPenn), Karen Beckman (UPenn), Ruth Behar (University of Michigan), Peter Biella (San Francisco State University), Kesha Fikes (The Center for Sensorial Bodywork and Movement Therapy), Kim Fortun (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Faye Ginsburg (NYU), John Jackson Jr. (UPenn), E. Patrick Johnson (Northwestern University), Annelise Riles (Cornell University), Jesse Shipley (Haverford College), Diana Taylor (New York University), Elmo Terry-Morgan (Brown University), Deborah Thomas (UPenn), Debra Vidali (Emory University)

http://howlround.com/livestreaming-the-visual-and-performative-ethnography-symposium-university-of-pennsylvania-fri-march

Help us caption & translate this video!

http://amara.org/v/SqKB/