Encounters and Portraits: The Art of Representation in Qualitative Research

Qualitative interviews can offer a wealth of information, revealing modes of life and thought that illuminate our understanding of the world in often surprising and expected ways. Many times, what we glean from interviews exceeds the bounds of our stated research questions, providing a wealth of insights that posit and important challenge: how do we do justice to the generosity of the encounter with another? This wintersession project explores efforts to grapple with this bounty. We will discuss creative and artistic projects – photography, installation, mixed media – that question what qualitative research looks like. The workshop will invite students to ponder ways to expand their own ideas of representation in research, to query and complicate what knowledge looks like. (Participation in Learning to Ask: Ethics and Practice of Interviews is strongly encouraged prior to this).

Meet the facilitator:
Sebastián Ramírez received a BA from Queens College CUNY in Anthropology and Psychology and a PhD in Anthropology from Princeton University. His research among internally displaced persons in his native Colombia explores the role of healthcare services in efforts to remake ideas of home and citizenship in the aftermath of violence. His dissertation elucidates how official networks of aid and restitution for victims of the war are remade in the everyday efforts of the uprooted to claim their rights and remake their lives. He is starting a second project that investigates how survivors of social cleansing campaigns forge mental health support networks through artistic projects that commemorate the loss of family and friends.

What to Expect:
Mini workshop (90 mins total)

To request accommodations for this event, please contact the workshop or event facilitator at least 3 working days prior to the event.

Wintersession | View More Events
Co-hosted with: Pace Center for Civic Engagement

Contact the organizers