Moving global horizons: Imagining selfhood, mobility and futurities through creative practice in ethnographic research

Johannes Sjöberg,Alexandra D’Onofrio

doi:10.1177/1354067x20922141

Johannes Sjöberg, Alexandra D’Onofrio

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067x20922141

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Journal: Culture & Psychology	Publication Date: May 28, 2020
Citations: 5	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Manchester, Keele University

Abstract

This article explores imagined selfhood, mobility and futurities through creative practice in ethnography. Globalisation allows people with varying socio-economic and geographical backgrounds to imagine themselves with more possibilities. How can creative practice such as improvisation in ethnofictions, storytelling and participatory animation be applied in ethnographic research to explore the imaginary realm of selfhood and expectations on being elsewhere? Drawing on fieldwork on migration from Africa to Europe, Brazilian transgender mobility and British youth in environmental transformation, the article will show how existential immobility inspires production of global horizons through imagination.

Highlights

The conditions under which anthropological research is taking place today are very different from those when anthropology first was instituted as a distinct academic discipline
This article has demonstrated how co-creative practices can be applied in ethnographic film and research to provide access to imaginary worlds of mobility
The imaginary realm of cultural meaning has traditionally been neglected in ethnographic research on migration and mobility in general

Summary

Introduction

The conditions under which anthropological research is taking place today are very different from those when anthropology first was instituted as a distinct academic discipline. We set the ethnographic context for imagination and memories to emerge through a series of co-creative processes during fieldwork including ethnofiction and ethno science fiction films (Sjo€berg, 2008, 2017), and other artistic expressions such as applied theatre, storytelling, photography, filmmaking and animation (D’Onofrio, 2017). This article is primarily interested in how co-creative practice can be used a method as part of ethnographic fieldwork research to gain access to the imagined mobility, and the imaginary realm of migration.

Results

Conclusion