I am a multimodal cultural anthropologist focused on questions of bodily being, security/insecurity, and creative expression with fieldsites in Haiti, Ghana, and virtual spaces (VR Chat). I explore these interests through traditional and collaborative scholarship as well as experimental writing, collaborative experimental filmmaking, photography, and digital technologies (VR, 360-degree video, binaural sound, interactive network analysis) as well as curation and exhibition in public spaces. I am enthusiastic about pioneering new publication, dissemination, and review options that meet the challenges of new media. I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Florida in Dec. 2016, and I am a 2018-2020 Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Center for Experimental Ethnography at the University of Pennsylvania.
Research
Learning from the ways others perceive the world—especially those stories, experiences, and adventures of people who explore the boundaries of human experience: e.g. Vodou healers grappling with death and dying, artists exploring meaning and suffering, community leaders coping with vigilante action. Ongoing work in Haiti, Ghana.
Methods
Critical. Collaborative. Experimental. I use experimental interdisciplinary strategies to participate in and observe modes of experience at the boundaries of human experience. I think film, photography, sound, and ethnographic writing are most productive when they are infused with participation across many scales. I also own and experiment with three virtual reality headsets (HTC Vive, Oculus Go, and Samsung Gear) combined with binaural soundscapes, full-body tracking, experiential education and exhibition, interactive network interfaces.
Storytelling
Interested in the power of non-linear narrative for reaching different audiences in different ways. Filmmaking that is sensitive to human experience and individual identity as: Opaque. Conflicted. Intersectional. Unresolvable. and Collaborative.
Alissa Jordan 