Speaker’s series “Cripping Ethnographic Methods: Exploring Anti-Ableist Potentials of Multimodal Anthropology”
This series is hosted by the Stadtlabor for Multimodal Anthropology of the Institute for European Ethnology, Humboldt University Berlin.
Location: Institute for European Ethnology (IfEE), Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Str. 40-41, 10117 Berlin, Room 408.
Time: Mondays, 4pm-6-pm.
Accessibility: the building and room 408 are accessible for wheelchair users via the ground floor and elevator. Presentations will be in English and access copies will be made available. If you need any other access requirements, please write to us: collectiveaccess.ifee@hu-berlin.de.
Online participation is possible via the following link: https://hu-berlin.zoom-x.de/j/68497491247?pwd=YVjoEFoH3ga1066eRFDwdXWGn3UskR.1
Event #1: 20th October 2025. 4pm-6pm
Erin Durban (University of Minnesota)
ENABLING ETHNOGRAPHY: Crafting Anti-Ableist Fieldwork Methods
Using disability-as-method to intervene in ableist fieldwork models, Professor Durban presents alternative methods of ethnographic knowledge production that create greater disability accessibility and collective access in anthropology. “Enabling Ethnography” developed out of two research projects—one an experiment in anti-ableist research design about universities and racial inequality, the other an oral history project with disabled, chronically ill, and mad anthropologists. The presentation from this research highlights how cripping ethnographic methods using multimodal engagement and other strategies enhances ethnographic inquiry and analysis.
Bio: Erin L. Durban is an associate professor of anthropology and critical disability studies at the University of Minnesota.
Event #2: 1st December 2025. 4pm-6pm
Julia Sauma (Goldsmiths)
TOWARDS A QUIET ETHNOGRAPHY: deafness and methodology
In this session, I will reflect on my experiences of confronting my deafness during
doctoral fieldwork and on what counts as ethnographic material. Through this
reflection, I will make an argument towards a quiet ethnography and on the
importance of cripping social research methodology.
Bio: Dr. Julia F. Sauma (she/her) is a Deafened researcher and Lecturer in Anthropology
at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her research investigates how collective
life is maintained within and against extractive relations, structures and
institutions in Brazil and the UK.
Event #3: 5th January 2026. 4pm-6pm
Kelly Fagan Robinson (University of Cambridge)
ABCs OF CITIZEN SOCIAL SCIENCE AS SELF-ADVOCACY FOR LESS-LISTENED-TO PEOPLE
Kelly Fagan Robinson presents ‘Anthropology By Children/Communities’ (ABC), a multimodal citizen social science methodology supporting participant-led research with marginalized groups. ABC enables less-listened-to individuals—including those with disabilities, neurodiversities, educational exclusion, or refugee status—to assess social spaces and articulate their values and needs. Drawing from three-year pilots across London, Cambridgeshire, Italy, and Nepal, this interactive workshop demonstrates how ABC generates significant insights into participants’ experiences in work, school, and medical settings while highlighting their existing capacities for social assessment.
Bio: Kelly Robinson is Assistant Professor of Medical Anthropology at Cambridge, studying disabilities, marginalisation, and institutional communication. She devised Anthropology By Children/Communities methodology.
Event #4: 2nd February 2026. 4pm-6pm.
Chika Watanabe (University of Manchester)
PATCHWORK ETHNOGRAPHY: a Methodological Guide
Intersecting responsibilities at home, life conditions, institutional pressures, and geopolitical uncertainties make uninterrupted long-term fieldwork difficult for many ethnographers today. Patchwork Ethnography offers a new way to acknowledge and accommodate how researchers’ lives, in their full complexity, shape knowledge production. This talk is based on the forthcoming book, Patchwork Ethnography: a Methodological Guide (University of Chicago Press, 2026).
Bio: Chika Watanabe is a social anthropologist at the University of Manchester and studies disaster preparedness in Japan and Chile.