Multimodal Ethnography (II): What to Do With This Mess? Multimodal Practices in Anthropology

September 9-11, 2026

Prof. Alice Aterianus-Owanga (UNINE)

Prof. Marion Fresia (UNINE)

Daniela Rodrigues, Aix Marseille Université

Baptiste Aubert, Marseille

Mikaela Le Meur, ULB

Overview of workshops I & II on Multimodal Ethnography:

In 2026, we feature a two-part workshop on multimodal ethnography, co-organised by the University of Zurich and the University of Neuchâtel. Multimodality refers to the use of diverse media forms like text, images, sound, video, and social media in anthropological fieldwork and writings. In recent years, the use of creative practices in ethnographic research-through documentary film, sound documentary, or graphic arts (drawing, painting, comics)-has grown significantly, serving both as research tools for generating data and as methods for disseminating scientific knowledge.

While building on a longer history of plural forms of anthropological writing, the renewed interest in creative approaches raises key questions for PhD students who engage with them. How do anthropologists mix anthropological writings with creative media from a multimodal perspective? What is the impact of researchers' multimodal productions on how they connect, collaborate, and translate their field research? What power relationships and ethical dilemmas arise around these types of media? 

The workshops I & II on Multimodal Ethnography will tackle these issues through theoretical presentations and practical activities. 

Workshop I (June in Zürich)

In the one-day workshop I, students will learn about multimodality in anthropological research and academic output. Students will engage with anthropological theory on multimodal ethnography and the ethics of multimodal fieldwork, and will begin a practical exercise to be continued in workshop II. The workshop welcomes both those who have experience in multimodal practice and those who have not yet engaged (but would like to) with multimodality. 

Workshop II (this workshop in September)

In the 3-day workshop II, students will be offered a continuation of workshop I, both in relation to theoretical insights and practical engagement. The workshop focuses on hands-on activities, specifically designed for participants already immersed in multimodal ethnographic practices. Participants will work in three groups, each limited to a maximum of five people: one group focusing on podcasting and sound documentaries, another on video documentaries and film, and a third group on illustrations and drawings. Each group will be supervised by an expert in their respective field. The overarching goal is to emphasize multimodal writing as a central aspect of the workshop's learning outcomes.

Between workshop I and workshop II, there will be a break of approximately three months during which students will work on their project (which they will have begun in workshop I). Workshop I is open to everyone. Students are required to participate in workshop I to participate in workshop II, but under some circumstances and for specific reasons, it can be possible to join workshop II only. Reach out to the workshop organizers directly to investigate if this applies to you.

Detailed information on this workshop II:

What to do with this mess? Multimodal Practices in Anthropology 

What does a multimodal approach do to the field? How does it enrich our empirical material and help to reconsider the nature and status of "ethnographic data"? How can these media be integrated into a thesis-during fieldwork, analysis, writing, or the dissemination of knowledge? And how can text be meaningfully combined with sound, image, or film in a final output? 

This workshop aims to explore, discuss, and begin answering these questions through practical sessions involving anthropologists working with multimodal methods. It will bring together PhD students -whether in early stages or further advanced in their projects-who are working at the intersection of research and creation, along with several invited experts. To foster focused discussion, the workshop will specifically address multimodal approaches involving audiovisual formats (film and sound) and graphic arts (drawing, painting, comics). 

The program of this workshop will alternate between plenary sessions and small-group practical workshops, gathering four to five participants working with the same medium (film, sound, graphic arts). This structure will allow participants to work directly with ethnographic material from their fieldwork. The workshop is primarily intended for PhD students already engaged in multimodal approaches: participants should have already started using creative media in their research, but they do not have to be trained in visual or multimodal anthropology or published in this area.

A short application file will be requested in advance to adapt the sessions to the participants' stages of reflection and research materials. 

Three guests will be invited to animate each workshop dedicated to a type of multimodal writing. 

Invited experts:

Daniela Rodrigues (drawing)

Daniela Rodrigues is an anthropologist and illustrator. Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher at the AMIDEX Chair of Excellence Alternative Narrative Structures in Audiovisual Anthropology, where she studies historical and contemporary practices of regeneration and land use in Montado Alentejano (southern Portugal). Since 2015, she has been interested in the interactions between the gesture of drawing and anthropological practice, giving various courses and workshops. Exploring these interactions is a central point of her working methods.

Baptiste Aubert (film)

Baptiste Aubert is an anthropologist and filmmaker based between Switzerland and Marseille. After completing a thesis in visual anthropology at the University of Neuchâtel on the narration of the past in a former textile city in Belgium, he is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Norbert Elias Center and the Fabrique des écritures ethnographiques in Marseille. He is also a lecturer in visual anthropology at the universities of Basel and Neuchâtel.

Mikaela Le Meur (sound)

Mikaela Le Meur is an anthropologist with a PhD from the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), where she defended a thesis in 2019 on the social life of plastics in Vietnam. She is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the ULB where she works on the future of urban waterways in Marseille. Since 2018, she has been experimenting with various forms of social science writing and scientific mediation combining textual, sound and audiovisual narration. She has produced several sound capsules on her research subjects. She reflects more broadly on the relations between arts and the social sciences from a perspective of public anthropology, involved in the city.

Event schedule:

Day 1

12 pm: arrival of the participants (to allow travel time in the morning) 

2pm-4pm: introduction, presentation of participants' research projects 

4pm-6pm: introductory conference by one of the guests 

Day 2

Full day of workshops divided into groups 

Day 3

Morning session for sharing group work, final round table by the speakers and organizers

Montezillon (tbc)

Participation fee: CHF 60 

For students of the CUSO universities (Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchâtel and Fribourg) and from the universities of Bern, Zürich, Luzern, Basel and St. Gallen, accommodation and meals are organised and covered by the CUSO doctoral program in anthropology. 

Travel expenses will be reimbursed via MyCUSO based on half-fare train ticket (2nd class) from the student's university to the place of the activity.

15