A Line That Doesn't Make a Letter : Preface to the Thematic Section on Drawing in Anthropology

Mali, Matej (author)

Kam nas lahko črta odpelje, ko ne vodi v črko? Vprašanje vloge risanja znotraj discipline sicer ni prav nič novega. Takšno ali drugačno risanje se je pojavljalo že od njenih začetkov, pa čeprav morda z bolj ilustrativnim namenom, recimo materialne kulture. Kakšna je tako lahko njegova vloga v sodobnosti in njeni aktualni želji po širjenju večnačinskih pristopov? Hiter pregled nam pokaže, da je črta, ki vodi v risbo, danes več kot ilustracija; lahko je kolaborativna raziskovalna tehnika, kjer skupaj z udeležencem_ko s svinčnikom v roki raziskujemo določeno prakso, lahko nastopa v sferi avtoetnografskih refleksij, povzema lahko očem nevidno ali prikrito. Dejstvo je, da risanje, za razliko od fotografije, lažje presega mejo med vidnim in čutnim, na kar opozarja tudi umetnica in antropologinja Karina Kuschnir. Svinčnik v roki nam ponuja možnost, da dodamo izkustveno plat scenarija, ki se nam odvija pred očmi. Ulični pes je večji, kot se pojavi na fotografiji, čustva se odrazijo v izbranih barvah, časovni in prostorski intervali zavzamejo njihovo utelešeno razumevanje. Tehnika nam s tem ponuja alternativno možnost komunikacije; ko jezik odpove in ko kamera ni dovolj ali pa ni zaželena.

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: risanje v antropologiji, vizualna antropologija, kodiranje, prezentacija, metodologija, etnologija, antropologija, risarske tehnike, kodiranje
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.20 - Preface, editorial, afterword
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.07.2026
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 4 str.
• Numbering: Letn. 4, št. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-185090
• UDC: 39:741/744
• ISSN on article: 2820-6088
• DOI: 10.4312/svetovi.4.2.117-120
• COBISS.SI-ID: 285703171
• Publication date in RUL: 22.07.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Svetovi
• Publisher: Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2820-6088
• COBISS.SI-ID: 148550403

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
• Description: A Creative Commons license that bans commercial use and requires the user to release any modified works under this license.

Secondary language

• Language: English
• Title: Črta, ki ne vodi v črko : Uvodnik v tematski blok refleksij risanja v antropologiji

Abstract

Where can a line lead, if not to a letter? The notion of drawing within the discipline and its specific knowledge production isn’t all that novel. Drawing has been used in anthropology since the beginning, albeit with a focus on its illustrative possibilities. But what can its role be in the present day, especially acknowledging the discipline’s overwhelming interest in expanding its multimodal approaches? Even a quick overview offers us an inkling that the method greatly exceeds its original purpose of illustration. It can act as a collaborative research technique, nudge its way into autoethnographic reflections, or visually mediate what is otherwise hidden. Unlike a photograph, drawing can visually cross the bounds between what is affectively experienced and what can be seen, as also pointed out by artist and anthropologist Karina Kuschnir. A pen in our hand allows us to freely move beyond what can be captured using a camera. In a drawing, a dog can appear bigger than it actually is, emotions take place in a chosen colour palette, time and space assume their embodied forms. The technique as such presents an alternate way of communicating; when words give out, a camera is not enough, or when a fleeting moment is visually obscured.

• Keywords: drawing in anthropology, visual anthropology, coding, presentation, methodology, ethnology, anthropology, drawing techniques, coding