Art in the Field

In this presentation, I describe the moments I sketched in my fieldwork to explore what we may learn about anthropology’s humanizing endeavor, especially amongst political sensitivities. Because I consider my research as a collaboration between myself as an ethnographer and my interlocutors, I try to balance their desire in securing their external confidentiality in case of future repercussions. and at the same time to make sure that they are represented, their stories are known. I also talk about what may be produced out of documenting moments through sketches, as something that we, as researchers, experiences with others in doing ethnographic works, in showing that we care and that we really see these people. I draw from the concepts of portraiture as methodology by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot; Micheal Taussig’s sketching in the field as witnessing, and ideas about representation and anonymity to work through an explanation.