Behind-the-Scenes: Conversations on Fieldwork Seminar

Thinking through the geographical limitations of the “field”

Speaker: Carolina Angel Botero, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies, University of Pennsylvania
Chair: Claire Griffiths (Chester)


This session presents a personal reflection on the conceptual and affective movement experienced when naming one’s research abroad as 'doing fieldwork':

“Moving from Bogotá to Philadelphia changed my perception of fieldwork. Finding myself as the 'foreigner doing fieldwork' for the first time, I had to position myself differently as a researcher in my home country of Colombia. In this session I think through the concept of the 'field' and propose other definitions that transcend the geographical limitations of this concept, allowing other forms of co-production of knowledge and relevant collaborations within partnering actors and communities.”

Carolina Angel Botero is a Colombian lawyer and anthropologist with a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the Universidad de Los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia) and an MA in Anthropology from the New School for Social Research. As a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies 2023-2025 at the University of Pennsylvania, her work has been focussing on intersections between law, nature and anthropology, specifically looking into the political capacities of species.

All are welcome to attend this free seminar, which will be held online via Microsoft Teams at 18:00 GMT (UK time). You will need to register in advance to receive the online joining link. Please click on the Book Now button at the top of the page to register.

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Programme
Autumn Term
Wednesday 6 November, 6pm-7pm online on Microsoft Teams: Carolina Angel Botero, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies, University of Pennsylvania. Thinking through the geographical limitations of the “field” (fieldwork in Colombia)

Wednesday 20 November, 6pm-7pm online on Microsoft Teams: Sina Plücken & Nico Wilkins, University of Cologne. “Coming Out” in the Field: Reflections on Queer Ethnographic Positionalities (fieldwork in Cameroun and Namibia) 

Wednesday 11 December, 6pm-7pm online on Microsoft Teams: Brian Valente Quinn, University of Colorado Boulder.  Aesthetic readings through field methods: on studying theatre and performance in Francophone Africa (fieldwork in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire)

Details of the Spring Term programme to follow 

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Behind-the-Scenes: Conversations on Fieldwork is a programme of informal academic talks and events organised by the Fieldwork Research Group in the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies (ILCS).  The focus of the Conversations on Fieldwork seminar series is an exploration of the processes we engage with on the journey towards producing the published research output, covering all the stages involved in fieldwork in geographical, virtual or un-sited fields. Our online seminars provide a real-time platform open to scholars from around the globe. Each session includes a short slide presentation of up to 30 minutes. Invited speakers draw from lived experiences of navigating the spaces and situations that constitute their fieldwork universe to share findings and experiences which are then discussed with participants. All attendees are invited to engage actively and supportively in the week’s Conversation sharing either from their own experiences, or for participants planning to undertake fieldwork-based research for the first time, from their own expectations.


For further information on the Behind-the-Scenes: Conversations on Fieldwork programme please contact the series convenors, Professor Claire Griffiths and Dr Kaya Davies-Hayon