Peshkova, Pr. Svetlana

English

UNH Scholars' Repository

SpectrumFrom the Desk of Co-editors: Pr. Peshkova and Pr.MichaelArticle 32019An Autuethonnographic Exercise:Deep-thinking,Art, and Contemplation in Socio-CulturalAnthropology*Pr. Svetlana Peshkovas.peshkova@unh.eduFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/spectrumThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Journals and Publications at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository.It has been accepted for inclusion in Spectrum by an authorized editor of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information,please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.Recommended CitationPeshkova, Pr. Svetlana (2019) "An Autuethonnographic Exercise:Deep-thinking, Art, and Contemplation in Socio-CulturalAnthropology*," Spectrum: Vol. 8 : Iss. 1 , Article 3.Available at: https://scholars.unh.edu/spectrum/vol8/iss1/31 An Autuethonnographic Exercise: Deep-thinking, Art, and Contemplation in Socio-Cultural Anthropology * In the Fall 2018, students in ANTH 513: Ethnographic Methods were asked to complete an exercise combining deep thinking about identity through practices of creativity and contemplation. One aim of the exercise was to help students achieve a compassionate and empathetic approach to research by overcoming and uniting their own fragmented identities. The exercise consisted of several stages. The first one was for students to spend fifteen minutes reflecting on their socio-cultural identities, considering the following quesitons: How do you self-identify? What do you know about your family histories? Then they were urged to imagine justifying their identities to others and ponder how they would go about doing so. 1Peshkova: An Autuethonnographic ExercisePublished by University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository, 20192 stress, social judgment, personal transformation, complexity, cultural background, self-reflection, analogies, feelings, and personality. When asked to reflect on this exercise, the majorty responded that they found it challenging but rewarding. One student said that she “found that my experience completing my ‘identity’ art piece encouraged me to think about myself, as well as the people around me.” Another student pointed out how much we use others and our relations with them to tell a story about ourselves; she said, This was a thought provoking exercise because I have not tried to describe my identity through art before. Using symbols of ethnicity and culture were quite helpful, but it was still difficult to illustrate myself. Although using pictures of people who are important to me and of what I look like seemed the ideal solution, I tried to avoid this for the challenge. I used writing, color and a bird which all portrayed a personal meaning. Overall, this was a useful process in better understanding myself.  2Spectrum, Vol. 8 [2019], Iss. 1, Art. 3https://scholars.unh.edu/spectrum/vol8/iss1/3Students wrote down their responses for both stages of the exercise. The next stage included creatively representing their identities on a canvas, by using a variety of materials, such as paint, ink, and mixed media (see the image above: Britanny Dunkle, Josephine Tarbell, Taylor Gallangher, Alexandra Firlings, John DeAngelis, Sarah Jarrar, Rebecca Holland, Emily Bethune, Audrey Waterman,  Jodi Bezanson,  Emily Dolloff-Holt, Shannon Hinton,  Mai Openo, Olivia Guzman, and Monica Hughes). With students’ permissions, the completed canvases were displayed next to each other in the Anthropology Department (UNH). Students then were encouraged to contemplate their projects in relation to each other, finding similar themes emerging in their artwork by stitching together their fragmented identities in a dialogue with each other. In the process, students articulated the following themes: family, countries, gender, religion, significant others, food, 3 and the parts of my identity that I continue to redefine and grapple with. During the actual creative process, I think certain parts of myself naturally revealed themselves more than others. The interesting part about all of this is that I know if I were to be asked to complete a similar project 5 or 10 years from today, my contemplative process and the visual result of it would look completely different. This seeminly simple exercise made students engage in deep thinking about their selves and informed the way they think about and represent others. Autoethnography is a research method whereby authors reflect on their personal experiencesand connect them to a larger socio-cultual context. 3Peshkova: An Autuethonnographic ExercisePublished by University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository, 2019*Other students observed the duality of representing how they see themselves and how they portray themselves to others. One student wrote, At first this exercise was challenging because in order to represent myself onto a canvas, I first had to reflect on how I identify myself. I realized that to me, my identity was comprised of how I present myself to the world, or how I want the world to see me, and my true self. Some students also noted seeing both similarities and differences between each other’s canvases:“…the canvas revealed aspects of the students that I did not previously know about. Not only was this project challenging for me, but I also learned about the students in our class more.” Finally, several students concluded that identity was dynamic, since it has changed overtime: The prompt that was provided to the class isn't necessarily a question that I have never asked myself, which was what my social identity is. This exercise really pushed me to gather my contemplative thoughts that I have had about who I am and the construct of my own identity. I tried to make the end product a visual manifestation of how I see myself 

An Autoethnography Exercise:Deep-thinking, Art, and Contemplation in Socio-Cultural Anthropology*

University of New Hampshire

Spectrum
From the Desk of Co-editors: Pr. Peshkova and Pr.
Michael
Article 3
2019
An Autuethonnographic Exercise:Deep-thinking,
Art, and Contemplation in Socio-Cultural
Anthropology*
Pr. Svetlana Peshkova
s.peshkova@unh.edu
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/spectrum
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Journals and Publications at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository.
It has been accepted for inclusion in Spectrum by an authorized editor of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information,
please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.
Recommended Citation
Peshkova, Pr. Svetlana (2019) "An Autuethonnographic Exercise:Deep-thinking, Art, and Contemplation in Socio-Cultural
Anthropology*," Spectrum: Vol. 8 : Iss. 1 , Article 3.
Available at: https://scholars.unh.edu/spectrum/vol8/iss1/3
1 
An Autuethonnographic Exercise: 
Deep-thinking, Art, and Contemplation in Socio-Cultural Anthropology * 
In the Fall 2018, students in ANTH 513: Ethnographic Methods were asked to complete 
an exercise combining deep thinking about identity through practices of creativity and 
contemplation. One aim of the exercise was to help students achieve a compassionate and 
empathetic approach to research by overcoming and uniting their own fragmented identities. 
The exercise consisted of several stages. The first one was for students to spend fifteen 
minutes reflecting on their socio-cultural identities, considering the following quesitons: How do 
you self-identify? What do you know about your family histories? Then they were urged to 
imagine justifying their identities to others and ponder how they would go about doing so. 
1
Peshkova: An Autuethonnographic Exercise
Published by University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository, 2019
2 
stress, social judgment, personal transformation, complexity, cultural background, self-reflection, 
analogies, feelings, and personality. 
When asked to reflect on this exercise, the majorty responded that they found it 
challenging but rewarding. One student said that she “found that my experience completing my 
‘identity’ art piece encouraged me to think about myself, as well as the people around me.” 
Another student pointed out how much we use others and our relations with them to tell a story 
about ourselves; she said, 
This was a thought provoking exercise because I have not tried to describe my identity 
through art before. Using symbols of ethnicity and culture were quite helpful, but it was 
still difficult to illustrate myself. Although using pictures of people who are important to 
me and of what I look like seemed the ideal solution, I tried to avoid this for the 
challenge. I used writing, color and a bird which all portrayed a personal meaning. 
Overall, this was a useful process in better understanding myself.  
2
Spectrum, Vol. 8 [2019], Iss. 1, Art. 3
https://scholars.unh.edu/spectrum/vol8/iss1/3
Students wrote down their responses for both stages of the exercise. The next stage included 
creatively representing their identities on a canvas, by using a variety of materials, such as paint, 
ink, and mixed media (see the image above: Britanny Dunkle, Josephine Tarbell, Taylor 
Gallangher, Alexandra Firlings, John DeAngelis, Sarah Jarrar, Rebecca Holland, Emily Bethune, 
Audrey Waterman,  Jodi Bezanson,  Emily Dolloff-Holt, Shannon Hinton,  Mai Openo, Olivia 
Guzman, and Monica Hughes). 
With students’ permissions, the completed canvases were displayed next to each other in 
the Anthropology Department (UNH). Students then were encouraged to contemplate their 
projects in relation to each other, finding similar themes emerging in their artwork by stitching 
together their fragmented identities in a dialogue with each other. In the process, students 
articulated the following themes: family, countries, gender, religion, significant others, food, 
3 
and the parts of my identity that I continue to redefine and grapple with. During the 
actual creative process, I think certain parts of myself naturally revealed themselves more 
than others. The interesting part about all of this is that I know if I were to be asked to 
complete a similar project 5 or 10 years from today, my contemplative process and the 
visual result of it would look completely different. 
This seeminly simple exercise made students engage in deep thinking about their selves and 
informed the way they think about and represent others. 
Autoethnography is a research method whereby authors reflect on their personal experiences
and connect them to a larger socio-cultual context. 
3
Peshkova: An Autuethonnographic Exercise
Published by University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository, 2019
*
Other students observed the duality of representing how they see themselves and how they 
portray themselves to others. One student wrote, 
At first this exercise was challenging because in order to represent myself onto a canvas, 
I first had to reflect on how I identify myself. I realized that to me, my identity was 
comprised of how I present myself to the world, or how I want the world to see me, and 
my true self. 
Some students also noted seeing both similarities and differences between each other’s 
canvases:“…the canvas revealed aspects of the students that I did not previously know about. 
Not only was this project challenging for me, but I also learned about the students in our class 
more.” Finally, several students concluded that identity was dynamic, since it has changed 
overtime: 
The prompt that was provided to the class isn't necessarily a question that I have never 
asked myself, which was what my social identity is. This exercise really pushed me to 
gather my contemplative thoughts that I have had about who I am and the construct of my 
own identity. I tried to make the end product a visual manifestation of how I see myself 


An Autuethonnographic Exercise:Deep-thinking, Art, and Contemplation in Socio-Cultural Anthropology*

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An Autuethonnographic Exercise:Deep-thinking, Art, and Contemplation in Socio-Cultural Anthropology*

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