“Experiments with Ethnography: Performing the Creative Humanities” will highlight unique ways to approach anthropological research through film, writing and performance. Panel experts include (top row, left to right): Su'ad Abdul Khabeer, Yasmin Moll, Courtney Brown, Kirin Narayan and (bottom row, left to right): James Hoesterey, Intan Paramaditha and Danilyn Rutherford. All are invited to attend the free program.
Scholars and artists gathered at Emory for a multi-day workshop discussing the nature of ethnographic storytelling — and how it might be reinvented — will share creative insights during a free public performance and showcase on Friday, Sept. 25.
“Experiments with Ethnography: Performing the Creative Humanities” will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Emory Performing Arts Studio in the Burlington Road Building. An RSVP is requested.
Highlights of the sensory-rich evening will include:
Singer-songwriter and Emory PhD candidate Courtney A. Bowden performing “Songs of My Dissertation”
A series of readings from anthropologist Danilyn Rutherford, whose recent work “Beautiful Mystery: Living in a Wordless World” explores the sensory worlds of individuals with profound intellectual disabilities; author Intan Paramaditha, whose genre-bending novel “Night of a Thousand Hells” is a decolonial, feminist exploration of Asian folklore; and anthropologist and folklorist Kirin Narayan, whose acclaimed work “Cave of My Ancestors” bridges storytelling with scholarship
A screening of anthropologist and filmmaker Yasmin Moll’s animated short film “Hanina/Homesick,” which explores race, landscape and Nubian displacement within Egypt.
A performance by anthropologist Su’ad Abdul Khabeer of her powerful, dramatic monologue on Black Muslim histories, “Umi Says”
After the presentations, audience members can join performers and professors for a roundtable discussion of their works and anthropological exploration. The roundtable Q&A session will be filmed for the American Anthropologist YouTube channel, capturing these vital conversations for a global academic audience.
Reframing research perspectives
The showcase is the culmination of a multi-day series of academic workshops and panels focused on anthropological research, inviting a broader audience into the conversations.
The events are hosted by James Hoesterey, associate professor and chair of Emory’s Department of Religion. Hoesterey champions new methods transforming how ethnographic studies — those where researchers immerse themselves in the everyday environment of the culture being studied — are conducted, presented and integrated into university curricula.
According to Hoestrey, the conference aims to engage the Emory community “not in a didactic way that just tells people what to think, but in a way that promotes conversation.” This approach reflects the holistic learning environment Hoestrey has found at Emory.
“I’m lucky to be here [at Emory],” says Hoestrey, “and anthropology here at Emory has a long history in these conversations, both in methodology and visual form.”
The conference features an extraordinary roster of pioneering scholars and artists in its multi-day series of academic workshops and panels. These intensive programs will cover a breadth of topics including proposal writing, creative writing and ethnographic drafting.
“Experiments with Ethnography: Performing the Creative Humanities” is made possible through the Office of the Provost’s Emory Initiative for Arts and Humanistic Inquiry.