Wednesday, January 19 | 2:00 – 5:00 PM
Writing with Silence: Engaging with the Unspoken and Unspeakable in Humanistic and Qualitative Social Science Research Workshop
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Organizers: Dr. Merav Shohet (Boston University) & Dr. Annemarie Samuels (Leiden University)
Whereas the social sciences and humanities have for a long time predominantly focused on what people say and do, scholars in and beyond anthropology are increasingly reflecting on the importance of including the unspoken and unspeakable in their analyses. They do so, among other ways, by articulating the politics of refusal to engage in dominant narratives, attending to the subtle ways in which silences are stitched into an individual’s and family’s narratives of care, and theorizing silence as a necessary part of remaking the rhythm of everyday life in the face of loss. In this workshop, we invite graduate and advanced undergraduate students to reflect on silences that they encounter in their ethnographic/humanistic research and encourage them to think through the ethical (im)possibilities of writing about silence.
How do we attune to the unspoken and possibly unspeakable in our respective research fields? When and how do we inquire into the silences of the people and archives we work with, and when do we refrain from probing their possible meanings? How do we balance the need to critically reflect on historical processes of silencing while respecting research participants’ narratives and omissions?
The workshop will include an introduction to ethnographic research and theory on silences and/in narratives, the presentation and discussion of participants’ prepared short reflections, and a writing exercise. Interested students are invited to complete this Google form by 18 December 2023. Selected participants will be notified of acceptance by 21 December 2023. Workshop participants will then be asked to send a brief reflection (max. 500 words) on how they have encountered, or expect to encounter, silence(s) in their respective research projects by 10 January 2024.
Sponsored by ADF Humanities Fund, ADF Social Sciences Fund, Anthropology Department, BUCH, CISS, CURA, NEH DTP, WGS Program, WLL Department
Location: TBD (BU)