Creative Engagement with Crisis

At the present moment crises appear to be everywhere – whether they be health, ecological, climatic, social, industrial, political, collective or personal. Whilst Covid-19 has catapulted us into an unprecedented global situation, anthropologists have been grappling with crises of various kinds and magnitudes well before this moment.

We asked those working in the fields of visual anthropology, ethnographic film and adjacent disciplines to reflect on the notion of crises and the creative engagements they engender. How are visual anthropologists and the communities that have been working with responding to the crises of our times? How might research work in film and related media help us to move beyond the disruption and despair to renew and rethink visual and sensory anthropology? What is the place of creativity, resilience, agency and hope in these responses?

We have had a fantastic response to our call for papers. Along with our two Keynotes speakers, Faye Ginsburg and Stephanie Spray, we have 43 panel sessions with 165 conference presentations. Browse the full conference programme at THIS LINK.