[Last modified: November, 24 2024 04:29 PM]
I spent time walking by Euston Station. I observed the sounds, smells, visuals, and the feeling of being in the space just outside the entry to the trains and the underground where people congregate. Multimodal ethnography is helpful here in that by using visual/audio representation to conduct interviews and present final findings, I can convey what is like to be in this area more directly and with far more detail. While the textual and the visual are often privileged, the integration of sound and the description of smells make experiences more enlivened and embodied, thus often making them more cognizable and relatable. With regard to Euston Station in particular, the smell of cigarettes is omnipresent. The outside tables, likely intended for social gathering and eating before a departure, have become a smoking ground. To convey the extent of the overwhelming atmosphere, visual film would be helpful, which also captures the sounds of cars going by and hooting as well as the cacophony of voices that fill the space. This space is the embodiment of a sensory overload, filling noses, ears, and eyes with constant stimuli, which I think multimodality can convey much better than text alone. Additionally, conducting this fieldwork through a multimodal lens would allow the researcher to understand the role of technology in everyday life even more. In this space that is filled with people, most aren’t talking but are using their phone or laptop and often headphones. Perhaps what contributes to the overwhelm of this space is the fact that there are so many bodies in a confined space and so few of them are interacting with each other but rather with technology. Thus, there is no calming sense of connection but rather a sense of isolation and a desire to remove your body from the smoke-filled outdoor space as fast as possible.
Indeed, I also think that using visual reality could also be a really interesting way to conduct ethnography going forward, with the ability to show others what environments are like and introduce smells while they are wearing goggles so that they are fully immersed in the experience. This way, we can develop embodied understanding amongst diverse groups of people in the hopes of activism stemming from empathy. I wonder how AI could be used to conduct anthropology going forward too.