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

• Published in: American anthropologist 2019-09, Vol.121 (3), p.769-772
• Main Authors: Atalay, Sonya, Bonanno, Letizia, Galman, Sally Campbell, Jacqz, Sarah, Rybka, Ryan, Shannon, Jen, Speck, Cary, Swogger, John, Wolencheck, Erica
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic disciplines; American Indians; Animation; Anthropologists; Artists; Audiences; Audiovisual materials; Book series; College students; Comics; Communication; Creativity; Cultural heritage; Education; Ethics; Ethnography; Graphic novels; Indigenous peoples; Learning; Literature reviews; Mass media; Medicine; Narratives; Novels; Policy making; Prominence; Public health; Repatriation; Storytelling; Teaching; Teaching methods; Work
• ISSN: 0002-7294; 1548-1433
• DOI: 10.1111/aman.13293

In our hypervisual culture, presenting research in a visually engaging way can have a powerful and democratizing impact. Visual methods, such as comics and animation, aid us in telling engaging, memorable stories about our work. Storytelling is an important skill in the research tool kit; it brings much-needed creativity to our work lives and to our research while at the same time helping to democratize knowledge and fulfilling our ethical responsibilities to share scholarship outside the academy. Comics and animation not only are effective for communicating but also are excellent for thinking. They challenge us to clearly explain complex concepts and ideas, using words and images together to interweave multiple lines of evidence into coherent, compelling, and engaging visual narratives. These tools allow us to move academic knowledge into the hands and minds of diverse audiences, including policymakers, community partners, and other scholars, both in our own field and across disciplines.We are scholars, artists, and students; we come together with an interest in engaging in research and teaching methods using visuals and graphic artwork. A review of recent literature and publication opportunities reveals that we are not alone in our interest in these formats as platforms for scholarly thinking, research, investigation,and teaching. These nontraditional media formats and their potential are reflected in our own discipline, such as in the creation of a new book series at the University of Toronto Press called Ethno/Graphic: Ethnography in Graphic Form. They are also gaining attention and prominence in other disciplines, such as the growing interest in graphic medicine in the medical and public-health fields (https://www.graphicmedicine.org/), and by scholars from diverse fields who are using arts-based research methods (Barone and Eisner 2012; Leavy 2018; Walsh, Bickel, and Leggo 2015). In different ways, we each present drawing and visual artwork as a fieldwork method, or as a way to communicate our research to others beyond our discipline. Several of us use these forms of creative work as teaching tools. Discussing creative process and sharing our visual pieces, we present a range of ethnographic work, including a new graphic narrative focused on NAGPRA law and Native American repatriation, drawings used as reflexive practice, comics that help us grapple with uncomfortable data and fieldwork experiences while resisting the urge to reduce complexity, lessons about