The Multisensory Archive as an Ethnographic Research Method Tom Jackson University of Leeds Final Report April 2016 1) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY South Leeds. Originally constructed in 1840 as a flax mill, the building has a number of signature features. Ethnographic research “informed by theories The industrialist John Marshall had a fascination with of sensory perception” (Pink, 2010, p331) is Egyptology and therefore designed a facade for the undoubtedly an “emerging trend” in anthropology building inspired by the Temple of Horus in Edfu. It (Nakamura, 2013, p.132). Described by David Howes was also said to have the largest single room in the as “one of the most exciting developments in world at the time of construction. One room inside recent anthropology” (2010, p.338), it presents the Temple Works is two acres in size. opportunity to rethink established ethnographic practices and calls for interdisciplinary collaboration. The rationale for selecting Temple Works as a locus But what methods can we use to investigate the of academic enquiry can be made with regard to the role the multisensoriality of experience might play in past, present and future. shaping cultural phenomena? PAST The digital archive and its relationships with the As the only Grade I listed building in South Leeds, study of community and culture are also generating Temple Works is formally identified as a location academic interest as developments in digital of great historical significance. Constructed by technology facilitate new ways of accessing archival an important figure in the industrial revolution materials and new methods of co-creation. The and the location of numerous architectural and infrastructure of the digital archive as “community manufacturing innovations, the building is an memory” (Sugimoto, 2014), the ways in which the effective method of accessing the industrial past creation of a digital archive “alters the geography of of the region. The site provides an ideal opportunity community heritage production” (Beel et al., 2014) and for academic projects related to heritage, public the challenges presented by “cultural organisations engagement and the archive. wanting to take charge of the multimodal telling of their own histories” (Carlin, 2014), all suggest PRESENT recent developments in the relationships between During the initial phase of the pilot study, Temple the digital archive, community and culture. But is Works was home to a cultural project that an archive that contains a collection of objects of supported a wide range of creative practitioners: significance abstracted from their original context artists, musicians, performers and theatre groups. the most appropriate format, when the lived The project made an important contribution to the experience of a community is so vivid, connected region, providing a space that inspired creative and multisensory? collaborations. The location of the cultural project LOCATION OF STUDY within such an unconventional space suggested academic study in the fields of ethnography, cultural Temple Works was selected as the location of the geography and environmental psychology. pilot study. It is a building of great historical and cultural significance, located in the Holbeck area of 1 FUTURE 2) AIMS Towards the end of the pilot study, the sale of Temple This seed project aimed to investigate the ways in Works (and the surrounding area) was agreed and which sensory ethnography and the digital archive the cultural project was required to vacate the might be synthesised, generating new fieldwork building. It could be argued that this development methods and new ways of knowing. The theoretical created a crucial moment for intervention, producing framework for this relationship was explored by impactful research that offers a critical perspective Johannes Fabian in ‘Ethnography as Commentary: on the processes of transition. The funds from this Writing from the Virtual Archive’ (2008) but this pilot study made it possible to realise this important project aimed to generate a practical output that contribution at this critical juncture. tested the relationship using the case study of an PRACTICAL OUTPUT urban regeneration project. The funding awarded for this pilot study made The project aimed to provide the network with: it possible to realise a piece of practical work that • A series of recommendations for the synthesis of sensory ethnography with the digital archive and directly addresses the intended aims of the project. a reflection upon the contribution digital archives The existing spatial and visual archive (created might make to ethnographic fieldwork. before this pilot project) was transformed into a • A critical evaluation of both the process and multisensory archive, including 360° binaural sound results of transforming a community space into a digital archive. recordings. This unique development was achieved The opportunity to contribute to a project that through the creation of bespoke web software • provides the public with virtual access to a and the purchase of experimental hardware, as priviliged space of great historical and cultural requested in the proposal. importance. 3) KEY FINDINGS This pilot study has successfully illustrated that a multisensory virtual archive can be used as an ethnographic research method. Not only did the archive created as part of the pilot study prove effective in engaging research participants in the co-creation of knowledge regarding the sensory experience of the site, it has also garnered significant academic interest in the disciplines of anthropology, The multisensory archive is publicly accessible here: materiality and the digital archive (as evidenced http://tomjackson.photography/interactive/ templeworks/ by the research outputs). This pilot study has also achieved impact through public engagement both This is a direct link to a space with 360° audio: through a series of external events and by making tomjackson.photography/interactive/ templeworks?loc=mainspace the resulting archive accessible from anywhere in the world. 2 4) KEY ISSUES disseminating the findings of ethnographic results “This is an emergent field, with new opportunities and the potential for an “excess of description” to respond to the challenges of finding ways to (Poole, 2005) has been a contentious issue since communicate in ways that are comprehensible to scholarly and public audiences about sensory ways of the development of the ‘writing culture’ of Clifford knowing in other people’s worlds.” (Pink, 2010) Geertz (1973). As Pink (2010) highlights, an opportunity clearly “it is not just that language directs us away from the sensate, but, more severely, it develops in us a partial exists to create new methods for the production inability to sense.” (Tucker and Goodings, 2014) and dissemination of ethnographic knowledge that 5) NEXT STEPS relates to sensory experience. Existing methods of participant observation and interview could be The next step for this project is to add participatory rethought and new tools and techniques could be features. If the virtual archive could be developed developed in an effort to rescue the ineffable, tacit into a collaborative platform, the traditional and embodied knowledge gained during research paradigms for the production of ethnographic encounters in the field. The multisensory and knowledge might be significantly altered. Allowing immersive methods developed as part of this study experiences of the field of study to be accessed, might be one contribution to this ongoing discussion. analysed and contributed to from anywhere in the world, the authorial control of the ethnographer The auditory features added to the archive project may be reduced and the collaborative construction, might also speak to a growing concern regarding the interpretation and contestation of narratives, ocularcentric nature of so many studies of culture. memories and potential futures must be embraced. (See Classen (1997), Rodaway (2013), Low (2015) This concept of a multisensory and participatory and many others.) In attempting to create workable archive has already generated significant interest. A multisensory research methods, the dominance of paper entitled ‘The role of multisensory, embodied vision might be brought into question. and participatory media in the production and The new methods being developed might generate dissemination of ethnographic knowledge’ has been new avenues of enquiry that could have a significant accepted to the 2016 conference of the European impact upon the practices of ethnography. Making Association of Social Anthropologists and potential such vivid records of the research encounter available funding opportunities have been discussed with as part of the publication process encourages The Science Museum and an AHRC theme leader. authorial humility and a reflexive approach to the production of ethnographic knowledge. It might also facilitate a more dialogic approach to the study of culture, engaging research participants in new ways. Most significantly though, these methods speak to ongoing debates regarding ethnography and description. The reliance on textual methods of 3 6) IMPACT CCN+), Dr. Edgar Gómez Cruz (Research Fellow of the CCN+) and I co-hosted the event, demonstrating The pilot study has had impact related to academia, a shared interest in Temple Works as a locus of industry, policy making and public engagement. academic research. ACADEMIC The following conference papers and research seminars all relate to the work produced