Identity Changes Through Exploration

Drawing on terrestrial migration, identity, and anthropological theories, and utilising artistic methodologies, we will investigate how explorers defi ne and modify “the self” while alienated from their territories and ‘homes’. The project will utilise artistic methods such as photovoice, participant journaling, fi eld sketching, and ethnographic documentary fi lmmaking as non-discursive modes of comprehending the transformative process of extreme journeys in real time and from participant perspectives. As such, this project promises meaningful impacts in the artistic disciplines of photography, fi lmmaking, autoethnography, and exploration ventures, while also generating innovation in the fi elds of anthropology, ethnography, and migration studies. The fi ndings from this research will benefi t explorers at all career stages, while also having the potential to feed back into humanitarian migration where similar themes of displacement, alienation, identity crisis, and reconstruction are prevalent but poorly understood, via dissemination through the Oxford COMPAS centre, migration studies program, school of anthropology, Pitt Rivers Museum, and published articles speaking directly to this comparison.

 

Recent scholarship in migration studies has highlighted the profound impacts of extreme terrestrial migration (Khosravi 2010; Vogt 2018; El-Shaarawi & Rasza 2018), while also noting that intense personal experiences can reconfigure group divisions and conceptualizations of belonging (Ruiz & Vargas Silva 2022). The analysis will focus on identity transformations through alienation and communitas, what Victor and Edith Turner have called “inspired fellowship” (E. Turner 2012, xi), framing journeys as rituals of transformation (V. Turner 1969). Within Turner’s concepts of a ritual and communitas, the initiate is removed from their cohort, undergoes a liminal period of identity- and positionality-changing processes, and emerges into a new cohort, fundamentally changing participants’ understanding of who they are and what their place is in society. Anecdotal evidence suggests that similar experiences are seen in expeditions, but ethnographic studies are few and far between and thus become fertile ground for discovery in a unique and significant contribution to the arts, expedition research, and migration anthropology.

 

Methodologically, we argue that this research is best conducted with the heavy use of artistic methods (details below). ‘Identity’ is a highly subjective topic and experience, both within academia and in public (Brubaker & Cooper 2000). Artistic creation works within and around the limitations of what verbal language can convey (Clacherty 2021), to identify the subjective ‘reality’ (Taussig 2011) of how participants conceptualise and represent themselves through these forms of expression. This project accordingly proposes expanding the reach of arts and humanities research to extreme migration contexts.

 

The methodology of this project engages artistic research methods as a vital avenue for comprehending illusive concepts of identity, alienation, and belonging. Both the researcher and participants (read: expedition team) will engage in artistic methods throughout each expedition in the project. Participants will keep fieldwork journals and sketches as well as engage in photovoice and filmmaking. This will allow unprecedented access to observe the minute and daily interactions of interlocutors while also participating in the processes under study. While the diversity of methods may seem like an ambitious undertaking, these various methods amount to daily documentation of personal experiences by a team of participants, which then slot together to form a holistic depiction of individual and group identity transformations.

 

Co-produced Fieldwork: During the expedition, team members will be asked to participate in the following discursive and non-discursive, artistic methods to collect experiential knowledge of gradual identity reconstruction, following Taussig’s insights into field journals becoming “more real than [reality]”, as a way to record the internalisation of daily extreme experiences and a timeline of transformation (Taussig 2011). Here, I intend to expand this methodological understanding beyond journals to include visual photovoice and audiovisual filmmaking practices as well, allowing team members to be active partners in knowledge production (De Block 2010; Clacherty 2021).

     ● Journaling & Art: During the expedition, team members will keep a journal to reflect on daily experiences and impacts. A large amount of interpretation will be encouraged–i.e., participants often choose to draw, make graphs, and employ other artistic media.

     ● Photovoice: Expanding beyond journaling and sketching, each team member will be equipped with a photo camera to document what they see fit as important, inviting co-production and documenting their experience.

     ● Filmmaking: A documentary film will be made in collaboration with OUEC to bring greater awareness both to the utility and operations of a student exploration as well as document experiences and personal transformation on film.

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Further interpretation : Taking inspiration from Carolyn Drake (Wild Pigeon), Susan Meiselas (44 Irving Street), and Delphine Boagey & Rob McNeill (Migration Sounds), photos will be developed, documented, and then given back to the participants post-expedition for further artistic development and ‘remixing’, such as drawing on top of photos, bricolage collages, writing short memoirs on the photos, etc. This method of comparing base visual material side-by-side with ‘remixed’ products allows further co-production in research aims and outputs.

 

Anthropology Research Outputs: This research will be analysed and written up as an ethnographic monograph and an academic paper for journal publication. Further, and perhaps more importantly for communication, the documentary will be published in a standard 7-act, 10-minute format for festival viewing (RGS Explore, Kendal Mountain Film Festival, Banff Film Festival). The photovoice and remixed material, along with select passages from expedition journals, will be displayed in an Oxford University Exploration Club exhibition in the Pitt Rivers Museum and School of Anthropology. All of this will be consolidated in a shared website between all Centenary Expeditions, disseminated through RGS, Adventure Mind, Oxford Divisions, and a series of talks in Oxford and additional universities.

 

Ethical: CUREC ethical approval will be sought via the Oxford School of Anthropology. Research ethics will follow the best practices of anthropological fieldwork, take a do-no-harm approach, and focus on co-production. All anthropological data will be collected and analysed by the team Anthropologist. Publications (textual and other) will be led by the anthropologist, and co-produced by all team members. All team members will be credited as co-producers / co-authors.