{"id":26385,"date":"2025-01-14T13:33:30","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T13:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/anthropology\/drawing-with-lynda-barrys-syllabus-in-a-creative-ethnographic-practices-class-lorena-gibson\/"},"modified":"2025-01-14T13:33:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T13:33:30","slug":"drawing-with-lynda-barrys-syllabus-in-a-creative-ethnographic-practices-class-lorena-gibson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=26385","title":{"rendered":"Drawing with Lynda Barry\u2019s \u201cSyllabus\u201d in a creative ethnographic practices class \u2013 Lorena Gibson"},"content":{"rendered":"


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A few years ago, my friend Caroline Bennett<\/a> gave me Lynda Barry\u2019s 2014 book Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor<\/em><\/a> and this term I decided to use some of Barry\u2019s creative drawing and writing prompts in the\u00a0Creative Ethnographic Practices<\/a>\u00a0class I\u2019m teaching at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington. <\/p>\n

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\"Cover<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

As I wrote in a previous blog post<\/a>, in this class I guide students through the process of crafting their own independent ethnographic research projects. Along the way, we discuss how to generate, analyse, and present our ethnographic findings in a variety of creative methods and genres, and Week 9 is about graphic ethnography. In that week\u2019s class I adapted some of the exercises from Barry\u2019s book and invited the class to bring some pens, pencils, and paper to class so we could draw together to think about their data and their final research projects. I am not someone who draws (although I will happily join my kids to do some colouring with them) and was apprehensive about how it would go. To my delight, students embraced the activity and many commented on how useful it was in their weekly reflective research journals, prompting me to share the activity here. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I can\u2019t draw!\u201d <\/h2>\n

Keenly aware of my own hesitancies about drawing, I began the session with a quote from Mark Westmoreland\u2019s 2021 chapter \u201cGraphic anthropology: A foundation for multimodality<\/a>\u201d:<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen it comes to drawing as a serious activity \u2013 as an ethnographic method, for instance \u2013 many feel they lack the expertise to perform such a task. In classroom settings, the announcement of a drawing exercise typically provokes a reaction ranging from the defensive \u201cBut I can\u2019t draw!\u201d to the confessional \u201cI don\u2019t know how to draw!\u201d Beginning from this place of not knowing, unskilled and uncertain, says less about our innate abilities than it does about the pervasive undervaluing of drawing in our educational systems. But we should not be deterred; as Betty Edwards famously proclaimed, \u201cI have discovered that any person of sound mind can learn to draw; the probability is the same as for learning to read\u201d (2012, 43). While drawing is a favourite pastime for young children, who exhibit a \u201cbeguiling freedom and charm\u201d in their depictions, around the age of ten \u201cchildren confront an artistic crisis\u201d as they become obsessed with producing realistic drawing (Edwards 2012, 66, 64). Without training to cultivate these skills, they become discouraged and possibly ashamed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2013 Westmoreland 2021, 61<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

After discussing Westmoreland\u2019s article for a short time, I introduced Lynda Barry\u2019s work and we began the activity I adapted from her book (pages 76-81 and 124).<\/p>\n

Step 1. Draw a spiral<\/h2>\n

You will need: <\/strong>something to draw on, and something to draw with.<\/p>\n

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Barry, Linda. 2014. Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor. <\/em>Canada: Drawn & Quarterly. Page 76.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n