Illustrating Anthropology

In today’s episode of Being Human we discuss how anthropologists are turning to illustration to tell the stories from their research. We will be talking about how drawings and comics can help to reveal the human lives at the centre of anthropology. Joining Laura Haapio-Kirk on today’s episode are: Dr Charlie Rumsby, who is a research fellow at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations and a Visiting Fellow at the LSE anthropology department. Her ethnographic research explores modes of identity and belonging amongst stateless ethnic Vietnamese children living on the Mekong and Tonlé Sap Rivers in Cambodia. In collaboration with illustrator Ben Thomas she experiments with ‘comic’ descriptions of the life stories of the children she worked with. You can learn more about her research on her website. You can follow Charlie @CharlieRumsby on Twitter. Dr Benjamin Dix, who is a senior fellow at SOAS and a research fellow at the University of Sussex. He is also founding director of PositiveNegatives, a not-for-profit organisation which produces comics that explore complex subjects including conflict, migration and asylum. Previously Ben worked as a Communications Manager for the United Nations and various international NGOs across Asia and Africa for over 12 years. Ben is the author of  ‘Vanni: A Family’s Struggle through the Sri Lankan Conflict’, illustrated by Lindsay Pollock. Vanni presents the story of a family still reeling from the devastating tsunami of 2004, who find their lives in turmoil when they are trapped in the crossfire between the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tigers during the country’s merciless civil war. He has written about the productive truth-fiction spectrum that comics play within the journal Visual Anthropology Review here. You can follow @PositiveNegatives on Twitter. Dr Letizia Bonanno, who is a medical anthropologist working on issues of care and pharmaceuticals. In March 2019 she earned her PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester and, since April 2020, has been appointed to the position of University Teacher in Sociology of Health at Loughborough University.  She has written about her use of drawing as a fieldwork method in the journal Entanglements: ‘I swear I hated it, and therefore drew it’. You can follow Letizia @letha_laetitia on Twitter. You can also check out our online exhibition of illustrated anthropology, which features work by our guests today, at https://illustratinganthropology.com/ or over on Instagram at @IllustratingAnthropology.