Drawing It Out

Abstract

The fieldwork sketches of Arthur Bernard Deacon, made in Vanuatu in 1926-27, give us insight into the early methodologies of social anthropology and into the role of images in anthropological ways of thinking. Here I develop a perspective on field sketches that explores them not only as visual mediations of the fieldworker's subjectivity, but also as genre pieces that indicate very particular forms of training in "how to see." I draw out the visual conventions, ways of thinking and seeing, that underscore the different strategies that Deacon used in his drawing. [A. B. Deacon, drawing, Malakula, Vanuatu, visual culture] bs_bs_banner

Ethno/Graphic Storytelling: Communicating Research and Exploring Pedagogical Approaches through Graphic Narratives, Drawings, and Zines

“…In what follows, I contend that drawing in fieldwork can enhance self‐reflexivity and awareness about positionality while providing further insights on the field site. In Haidy Geismar's (, 97) words, the provisional nature of sketching allows “an embodied exploration of the subject position of the anthropologist‐in‐making.” Commenting on Arthur Bernard Deacon's notebooks of his fieldwork in Vanuatu in 1926–1927, Geismar argues that sketches and drawings “provide an interesting counter‐narrative for fieldwork and dominant paradigms of visual representation” (98), while “lost stories of personal experience and alternative histories of ideas” may be recuperated (98).…”

Desenho e antropologia: recuperação histórica e momento atual

“…Decerto, os desenhos de vacas, cabaças, lanças, etc., jamais causaram incômodo algum: são desenhos sóbrios que, a exemplo dos "sonhos sóbrios" distinguidos por Freud, não precisam ser interpretados por terem uma relação auto-evidente com o que representam (Freud 2015: 130). Entretanto, mesmo em casos como esses, uma investigação mais séria pode ser reveladora, como será demonstrado posteriormente no trabalho de Geismar (2014) sobre os desenhos de Bernard Deacon.…”

“…(Rodin apud Merleau-Ponty 2004: 41). desenho e AntRopologiA Ao RedoR do séCulo xxi Na atualidade, há um número crescente de produções em que o desenho tem se destacado como método de pesquisa/forma de exposição do conhecimento, como atestam os trabalhos de Newman (1998), Colloredo-Mansfeld (1999, Ramos ( , 2009Ramos ( , 2010Ramos ( , 2015, Hendrikson (2008Hendrikson ( e 2010, Taussig (2009), Ingold (2011a, 2011b, Causey (2012), Olivar (2007Olivar ( , s/ data, 2010, Kuschnir (2012Kuschnir ( e 2014, Azevedo (2013Azevedo ( , 2014 e no prelo), Geismar (2014), Borseman (2014), Ballard (2013), Azevedo e Schroer (no prelo) e Azevedo e Ramos (2016). Além disso, outros trabalhos dão corpo à literatura sobre o tema de forma mais ou menos indireta, tais como Afonso e Ramos (2004), Lagrou (2007), Wright (2008), Gunn (2009) e Grimshaw e Ravetz (2015).…”

Drawing with a camera? Ethnographic film and transformative anthropology

“…We are very grateful to the anonymous readers and to Matei Candea for comments and suggestions for revision. We regret that we have not been able to engage Haidy Geismar's article ‘Drawing it out’ () in our discussion. It was published after the completion of this essay, but it is an important contribution to the anthropological debates about drawing and forms of knowledge that we highlight here.…”