South Carolina Anthropology
Student Conference 2016
Keynote Address
MULTI-SENSORIAL ETHNOGRAPHY, COLLABORATIVE
KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION, AND EMBODIMENT AS
ANTHROPOLOGICAL FRONTIERS AND DANGER ZONES
Dr. Debra Spitulnik Vidali
Department of Anthropology &
the Linguistics Program
Emory University
This talk reports on recent projects in ethnographic theater making, as they open up new
forms of collaborative knowledge production and modalities for multi-sensorial
anthropology. At once liberating and risky, such experiments present new possibilities for
an engaged, fully human anthropology, at the same time that they potentially challenge
the politics of boundary maintenance within the academy as well as our own comfort
zones. The talk includes some creative demonstrations of ethnographic theater making,
improvised on the spot with volunteer participants from the audience.
Saturday, March 19, 2016
11:00 AM
Gambrell Hall, Rm 153
University of South Carolina - Columbia