Visualizing social economies

Notes for visualization sub-group of WG1

MARE Conference proposal

Visualizing social economies: Dried Fish Stories from Asia

Presenters: Nireka Weeratunge, Tina Chen, Gayathri Lokuge, Eric Thrift, ...

A 20-minute montage of photos, video, soundscapes, and narration that seeks to convey the diversity entailed by social economies of dried fish in Asia.

Short commentary on the Visualizing social economies montage.

Presenter: Sara Ahmed

March 25 WG1 meeting agenda discussion points

1. Methodological value of visual elements for social economy of dried fish research
   1. Specifically: what do visualizations allow us to perceive and evoke that other methods do not?
   2. Forms of visualization (mapping, visual ethnography, diagrams) and other sensorial representation (e.g., soundscapes)
2. How should the visualization presentation be structured?
3. What media and content should we emphasize? (What information from the Research Teams can we “mobilize” for this purpose?) Are there particular presentation techniques that we should integrate?
4. Who is interested to support the work of Nireka, Gayathri, and Tina on this part of the MARE conference presentation?

Two approaches

Cultural dimensions of dried fish

Themes that might capture the non-material value of dried fish (Nireka):

1. Myth and ritual, e.g., Murugan and Utappan: we have a story about the god who doesn’t like dried fish; but contrast the god in Kerala who likes dried fish.
2. The taste of dried fish.
3. The smell of dried fish – we have literature on what it smells like.
4. Heritage: countries have unique dried fish products, that are considered part of their cultural heritage.
5. Diaspora: nostalgia for dried fish; how it is consumed and accessed overseas; for example Ben’s pictures of shops in Bangladesh that Communicate all this through pictures.

Other points and suggestions:

• Sri Lanka team has been collecting recipes (Dilanthi)
• Bangladesh also has stories and recipes collected (Taslima)
• The visual presentation can emphasize that this project approaches culture as a form of value, moving beyond standard economic perspectives (Tara)
• Given the timeframe, we may wish to avoid over-conceptualizing or working toward a finished product (Nireka)

Methodological reflection

(Tina) We should keep in mind the importance of methodological reflection, resisting the impulse to think about images as “documentary information”. We need to think about how we are actors in knowledge creation.

Knowledge in and around Asia often privileges the documentary format. We may begin to play on that: provide context (who the people and places are), but also comment on the relationship between viewer and image. We can reach out to those who work in social justice, creativity, etc. in Asia. A goal can be to confront what we see, and problematize it by encouraging critical perspectives; think about what the viewer might see and what else they should think about.

Some options

• Participatory video and play: The video itself can be a less refined, more playful type of process (Ratana)
• Maybe five 3 or 3½ -minute presentations, one per theme: this could be more doable than a 20-minute video. The videos can foreground different activities, can look very different. (Tina)
• Idea of “story maps” (Nireka): “An advantage with story maps is that they are many layered, so the viewers can focus on the broad messages or delve into as much complexity as they wish to, by scrolling down a pane or into different panes.”
• We should engage the Research Teams in the process, and have them think about these themes and types of evidence in new ways (Derek)
• Use the concept of “framing” – how the visual “frames” research questions, methodology, and collection of visual materials. What topics are captured in the visual frame, in the analytic frame? How do we frame the idea of “value” regarding dried fish? (Tina)
• Bangladesh team has some “found footage” produced by tourists / amateur videographers.

Comment from Nireka

Since our last meeting and as the group concerns ‘visualization’, I have been thinking of how to visualize the ideas that have emerged in our various discussions so far and have come up with a sort of preliminary storyboard, which I am attaching for discussion at our meeting on the 8th. I have outlined this incipient storyboard in the form of two overarching themes - smell and taste – and woven the other themes discussed previously around these. Please note that this is a sketch of some initial ideas for types of narrative, stories and photographs that could be considered, and not a proposed draft for the MARE output. The substance is merely examples of potential stories from the Sri Lankan team, as well as some contributions by Ben on Myanmar and Bangladesh. Decisions will need to be made on whether we want more elaborated/complex types of stories or concise vignettes, on the coherence of how it all hangs together, and what kind of media (photos, videos, sound recordings, etc.) would be available to us.

This initial sketch of stories is based on the following considerations:

• The MARE ‘visualization’ output is seen as a distinct type of presentation, providing a break to the audience from the other more cerebral contributions to the round table. It is suggested as something creative, engaging and fun (as emphasized by Ratana at the last meeting), based on a narrative approach that avoids social science jargon to the extent possible, while providing food for thought (literally and metaphorically).
• Since the timeframe until MARE is short, I think it is important to be realistic and avoid burdening the country teams who are at various stages of completing the scoping and/or moving on to next steps. Considering this output as an on-going process (similar to preliminary findings from the scoping) would enable teams to contribute whatever material in hand, as most I would guess have inadequate time, resources and/or skills to gather new material in the field, especially in the context of COVID conditions.
• A vignette approach under a few overarching themes, I think, would support inclusivity, with all country teams having the opportunity to contribute one or more stories that have so far emerged from their fieldwork or literature reviews, enhanced visually/audibly though photos, videos or sound recordings (either their own or gathered on-line). These vignettes could be seen as building blocks for elaborating some of these themes on the long-term.

From the perspective of the Sri Lankan team, we have several stories and visual material that would contribute to a photo essay (photos of good quality would not necessarily be our own), and which could potentially include a sound recording. We do not have any videos of adequate quality or the practical skills for producing quality videos at this time.

Draft PowerPoint storyboard