Compositional ethnography: Enriching our understanding of a changing neighborhood through an aesthetically inspired approach

Academic interest in sensory research has been increasing over the last years, particularly in social sciences. In sensory research, attention is given to visual, auditory, tactile, gustative, olfactory,… dimensions of experience (Hurdley & Dicks, 2011). It complements the almost exclusive reliance on watching, listening and writing in social sciences (Nakamura, 2013; Pink, 2009). As an emergent field of methodological interest, it creates possibilities for interdisciplinary collaborations, but it also involves many challenges, such as collecting and analyzing sensory research materials (Pink, 2009). In this presentation, we introduce compositional ethnography as an aesthetic orientation to our physical surroundings that recognizes “the existing but silenced poetry of the senses inherent to material life” (Mair, 2007, p. 233). It builds on the insights of sensory ethnography (Pink, 2009) and Dewey’s pragmatic aesthetic inquiry in relation to arts-based research (Dewey, 1934; Siegesmund, 2012). Composing is thereby defined as combining things, parts, elements from the sensory environment and transforming it into a research creation. Moreover, this ethnographical approach also incorporates a compositional analytical lens into the research design. This compositional lens can be seen in line with what Dewey refers to as thinking in the relationships of qualities; a sensory, embodied and imaginative way of thinking. These qualities refer to elements of art and principles of design (lines, shapes, forms, spaces, colour, texture, balance, emphasis, movement, repetition, proportion rhythm, variety and unity). We will present how we applied this ethnographical approach in a collaborative research project with artists to study a Belgian neighborhood in transition: Leuven’s Vaartkom.

ISBN:9789067842082

Publication year:2018

Accessibility:Open