SSWSP — The Concept

The Social Sciences Winter School in Pondicherry (SSWSP) is an Indo-French cooperation that has been designed as a programme of intensive and multidisciplinary training workshops addressing theoretical and methodological issues in social sciences research. This event provides each and every one with the opportunity of sharing experiences and research ideas.

This training workshop has four main objectives:

￭ To train doctoral (eventually postdoctoral) students on methodological and crosscutting

approaches for research on complex issues;

￭ To build up research capacity-building, and provide each and every one with the opportunity of knowledge transfer, sharing experiences and research ideas;

￭ To strengthen Indo-French cooperation in research in India, through the creation of an academic network of researchers in India and France working on South Asia;

￭ To consolidate a community of young scholars in India and abroad.

Since 2014, the SSWSP has trained almost 400 students from all over India and abroad. It involved the participation of more than 100 scholars from India and France across key disciplines of social sciences (anthropology, economics, geography, political sciences, population studies and sociology). Over its seven editions, the SSWSP has covered key issues for India and for research in social sciences, ranging from health, heritage, labour, mobility, inequalities, sustainability and water resources.

SSWSP 2024 – 8th Edition – Audiovisual methodologies in Social Sciences

In recent years, the field of social sciences has witnessed a significant shift in both data collection methods and knowledge production. This transformation is particularly evident in disciplines such as anthropology, geography, and sociology. Researchers are increasingly turning towards audiovisual methodologies, including photography, moving images, and sound to enrich their scholarly work and provide deeper, more nuanced insights into their subjects of study. Alternative forms of writing have thus emerged as powerful tools in the social sciences, challenging traditional academic narratives and offering fresh perspectives to share and disseminate knowledge by engaging the senses. These methods often incorporate creative and reflective approaches, allowing researchers to engage more intimately with their subjects and convey complex cultural and social phenomena. They, indeed, foster greater inclusivity and participation in the research process. Participants are often more engaged and willing to share their stories when approached through creative and non-traditional methods. This inclusivity enhances the depth and authenticity of the collected data, leading to richer and more representative scholarly outputs.

The use and status of photography within the different fields of social sciences have come a long way since its various colonial incarnations of capturing ‘the real’ and cataloguing humankind. Photography no longer serves as mere illustration of fieldwork and several  sharp critical turns taken over the last three decades in the fields of anthropology and history have radically transformed not only our way of viewing and producing photographic images but also of questioning the ideological underpinnings of archival practices. Further, the recent intensification of the dialogue between art and social sciences further opens up critical and creative means of writing social sciences and visual storytelling.

Moving images, or video recordings, offer a comprehensive medium for documenting and analysing social phenomena. In anthropology and sociology, for example, ethnographic films and documentaries enable researchers to present continuous, real-time accounts of social interactions, rituals, and events. These visual narratives not only enhance the descriptive quality of research but also enable a more interactive and engaging form of scientific communication.

Sound recordings are increasingly used to capture the auditory dimensions of social life. In sonic ethnography, soundscapes—composed of ambient sounds, music, conversations, and voices—offer a rich auditory context that can convey the atmosphere and ambiance of a setting in a unique way. These auditory data are particularly valuable for understanding communities’ lived experiences, as they add a sensory dimension to social research. Similarly, the production of podcasts, as an alternative form of writing, democratizes access to complex academic research through accessible and engaging formats for a broad audience.

At a time when advanced technological tools such AI-generated images and sounds are revolutionising our way of creating and consuming information, it becomes all the more crucial for social science researchers to address issues related to the use and practices surrounding the production of images and sounds in scientific approaches. If these technologies offer unprecedented opportunities to capture, analyse, and disseminate data, they also pose significant ethical and methodological challenges. Considering this context, critically engaging with and questioning audiovisual tools and their associated methodologies is an urgent necessity. In a field that is constantly evolving, this 8th edition of the Social Sciences Winter School in Pondicherry aims to encourage critical reflection on these issues and to promote in social sciences research the integration of these innovative methodologies, which will undoubtedly play an increasingly important role in advancing our understanding of complex social realities.

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Winter School General Programme

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<Day 1> // Monday, November 11

> 11:30-12:30 / Registration of participants / Entrance Hall

> 12:30-13:45 / Snack break / Garden

> 13:45-14:15 / Welcome Address / Nehru Hall

Dr. Renaud Colson, Director of the IFP / Dr. Delphine Thivet, IFP, Head of the Social Sciences Department / Dr. Alexis Avdeeff, IFP, Convener of the Social Sciences Winter School 2024.

> 14:15-15:15 / Inaugural Conference / Nehru Hall

Local History of Documentary Making in Tamil Nadu

The conference will be given by Amudhan R.P., a Tamil documentary filmmaker and media activist (http://amudhanrp.blogspot.com). He will be introduced by Kannan Muthukrishnan, who leads the research programme on contemporary Tamil culture at the IFP.

> 15:15-16:00 / Plenary Lecture / Nehru Hall

The Significance of Visual Methods in Studying Artisanal Practices: The Case of Wooden Cargo Shipbuilding by Gopinath Sricandane, who currently runs a two-year project EAP-1309 funded by the British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme.

> 16:00-16:30 / Tea break / Garden

> 16:30-17:00 / Visit of the French Institute

> 17:00-18:00 / Start of the Workshops / Nehru Hall / Coromandel Room / Conference Room

 Kick-off and objectives

 

<Day 2> to <Day 4> // Tuesday to Thursday, November 12-14

> 09:00-13:00 <> 14:00-18:00 / Workshop I / Nehru Hall

Filming Through The Anthropological Lens

> 09:00-13:00 <> 14:00-18:00 / Workshop II / Coromandel Room

Writing with Light: Approaches to Photographic Archives and Visual Storytelling

> 09:00-13:00 <> 14:00-18:00 / Workshop III / Conference Room – Heritage building

Pondiphony, Pondysphonies

 

<Day 5> // Friday, November 15

> 10:00-12:00 / Masterclass by Stanzin Dorjai Gya / Nehru Hall

Stanzin Dorjai Gya hails from a remote village called Gya in Ladakh, North India, situated at more than 15,000 feet in the High Himalayas. Like other children of Gya Village, Stanzin had a semi-nomadic childhood, spending half of the month tending his family’s herd of yaks and cashmere goats, while attending school during the other half. In 1995, unable to pass the necessary standardised tests to complete high school, Stanzin began attending an alternative school, SECMOL (Students Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh), where he learnt more about the visual medium. Fascinated by the camera and filmmaking, he made this his life’s passion. He later continued his education and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Jammu University in 2005. He founded the Himalayan Film House in Leh, wherein he has directed and produced notable feature films and documentaries on regional, national and international issues (http://www.stanzindorjaigya.com/).

For this masterclass, Stanzin will reflect on his unique journey and screen his film Jungwa: The Broken Balance, 2012, 53 mn (https://www.stanzindorjaigya.com/main/jungwa-the-broken-balance.html). 

> 12:00-13:00 / Awarding of Certificates to the Participants / depending on the weather

 > 13:00-14:00 / Farewell Lunch / First Floor Hall — Heritage Building

 

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Winter School Evening Events

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<Day 2> \\ Tuesday, November 12 > 18:00-21:00 \\ COCKTAIL@IFP / Terrace

<Day 4> \\ Thursday, November 14 > 19:00-22:00 \\ COCKTAIL@ConsulateOfFrance

<Day 5> \\ Friday, November 15 > 18:30-20:30 \\ PROJECTION@AllianceFrançaise

Screening of the documentary film by Ladakhi director Stanzin Dorjay Gya, The Shepherdess of the Glaciers (2016, 74 min), which has won numerous awards at international festivals, with the director present. The screening will be introduced and followed by a discussion led by Abeer Gupta, Co-Director of Achi Association India (https://www.achiassociationindia.org), focusing on the issues and challenges facing contemporary Ladakhi culture and society.

The screening of the film will take place at the David Annoussamy Auditorium of the Alliance Française of Pondicherry (58, Suffren Street).

 

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Workshops’ Presentation & Schedules

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Workshop I – Filming Through The Anthropological Lens

Coordinator: Dr. Thanuja Mummidi / Anthropologist / Associate Professor at the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Pondicherry University.

We’ve come a long way in the use of film in social science inquiry. Using the camera as tool that enhances the sensory and recording video footage offers the advantage of capturing the moment and the process, the silence and the articulation along with the many non-verbal cues. The film provides a dynamic medium that exposes and engages with subjectivities, participation, negotiations, and collaboration in meaning making between the researched and the researcher, not to exclude the viewers. This workshop will focus on some of these many possibilities that film brings to social science research. The training will include viewing and discussing (selected) ethnographic films. The place of film in the participating students current research projects will be explored along with hands-on training on film-making skills. This learning will be translated in the making of a film as a group project situated within the context of Puducherry.

Teaching team

Dr. Armelle Jacquemot is an Associate Professor in Anthropology at the University of Poitiers, Head of the Master’s in Anthropology – Ethnography and Audiovisual Writing, member of the Migrations Internationales, espaces et sociétés Laboratory (Migrinter, UMR 7301), and of the Institute Convergences Migrations. A specialist in Brazil, she has dedicated the majority of her fieldwork and research achievements to it for over thirty years. Focused on multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity, her work spans the fields of religion, illness and health, criminal justice, the environment, and migrations. Her research, which has both a fundamental and applied dimension, utilises film and photography as investigative tools and creative modes of scientific writing (https://www.canal-u.tv/intervenants/jacquemot-armelle-104424443). Common to her work is the essential role of ethnographic fieldwork and its restitution, as well as the aim to disseminate results beyond the academic sphere.

Dr. Joël Boulier is an Associate Professor in Geography at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He has long been interested in methodological issues in geography. On the one hand, he deals with issues of spatial analysis and geomatics, particularly in relation to environmental and forestry problems. He has published extensively in this field. On the other hand, his interest in music, photography and directing has naturally led him to alternative forms of writing in geography, particularly audiovisual writing.  Since 2016, he has been teaching documentary production in geography, from the first years of university right through to the Ph.D. In 2023, he co-directed the film « Viendra la mer » with Marie Chenet, a film about the future of dykes in France. J. Boulier has also made several short documentaries (« Mémoires des tartres », etc.). Two other films are currently being edited, and an ambitious film project will be launched in the spring on the issue of precariousness.

Dr. Thanuja Mummidi is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy in Pondicherry University. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of Madras. Her specialisation lies at the interface of economic and ecological anthropology, inclusive policy and scheduled tribes and food sovereignty. Her long-term ethnographic research has been with the Konda Reddis (South India) and more recently she has been using film for advocacy and policy intervention.

Dr. Thulasi Kumar Marella, is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication Media Studies, St Joseph’s University, Bengaluru and holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Mass Communication, Pondicherry University. From his Postgraduate days he developed a passion for capturing the essence of real-life experiences, drawing from personal experiences and marginalised perspectives. He has also collaborated with independent filmmakers, researchers, and scholars in producing notable films which led to screening four works in national and international film festivals, garnering recognition for his work. In addition to this practical filmmaking experience, he has also been involved in academia, guiding students with their ideas and fostering a deeper understanding of the art of filmmaking.

Learning Objectives

● Exploring the advantages and limitations of the camera in fieldwork;

● Filming through the research- questioning consent, participation and collaboration;

● Exploring the Technology and technicalities in ethnographic film making;

● Building the narrative-subjectivities and whose perspective while editing.

DAY 1 – MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11
17:00-18:00	Initiation of Workshop: Participants and the Teaching Team will have a round of self-introductions; the Team will present the plan for the workshop. A walk near the institute, weather allowing.
DAY 2 – TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12
9:00-10:00	Puducherry: People, Landscape and Possibilities for Filming
10:00-11:00	Filming Logistics: Discussion I
11:00-11:30	Coffee/Tea break
11:30-12:15	Situating Film in Ethnographic Research (Thanuja Mummidi)
12:15-13:00	Looking through the Lens: Technology and Techniques (Thulasi Kumar Marella)
13:00-14:00	Lunch
14:00-14:45	How I became a better Anthropologist with Films? (Armelle Jacquemot)
14:45-15:30	How has filming changed my Geography? (Joël Boulier)
15.30-16.00	Filming Logistics: Discussion II
16:00-16:30	Coffee/Tea break
16:30-18:00	On the Field, On the Film I
DAY 3 – WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13
8:30-13:00	On the Field, On the Film II
13:00-14:00	Lunch
14:00-16:00	Building the Narrative: Discussion (Sequence and Editing I)
16:00-16:30	Coffee/Tea break
16:30-18:00	On the Field, On the Film III
DAY 4 – THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14
9:00-11:00	Looking Through the Footage (Editing II)
11:00-11:30	Coffee/Tea break
11:30-13:00	On the Field: Revisiting Consent, Voice and Perspective
13:00-14:00	Lunch
14:00-16:00	Putting Together: The Narrative (Editing III)
16:00-16:30	Coffee/Tea break
16:30-18:00	Restitution

 

 

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Workshop lI – Writing Social Sciences with Light: Approaches to Photographic Archives and Visual Storytelling

Coordinator: Dr. Zoé Headley / Anthropologist / Senior Researcher at the CNRS (CESAH).

This workshop will introduce the participants to the social and technical history of photography, the changing nature of the photographic apparatus and archive in South Asia as well as the use of documentary photography and visual storytelling as alternative means of writing social sciences. The participants will engage both with the IFP’s rich photographic archive, as well as the social setting of the town of Pondicherry, to think through and engage in different methodologies of writing social sciences with light by practical and critical assessments of ongoing research projects on image-based practices across Asia. A time will be allotted to collectively discuss each participant’s personal engagement with visual data and social sciences.

Teaching team

Devarati is a writer and researcher with academic training in literature and sociology. She is currently a Writing Tutor at the Centre for Writing and Communication, Ashoka University. She has previously worked as a Teaching Fellow at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Ashoka University. She has also been a Project Coordinator for a foundation project implemented by India Foundation for the Arts, under their Archives and Museums programme, in collaboration with the Institut Français de Pondichéry (IFP). As part of this, she co-curated an exhibition, and conceptualised and conducted a series of creative writing workshops drawing from the archival photographs situated at the IFP Photo Archive. Her research interests constellate around themes of decay and repair; photographic practices; the poetic and the archival as modes and sites that can creatively rearrange the terms by which we make meaning; and forms and practices of reading and writing in the classroom and elsewhere.

As a child, Karthik travelled frequently between his life in the city and his grandparents in the village – learning to experience the world as it moves through the window of a train.
When he later travelled to photograph the Sundarbans, a place where the river Ganga joins the Bay of Bengal, the lament of the shifting land in front of him mixed inseparably with the half remembered memories of the landscape through the moving windows. At this slippery edge between water and land, began Karthik’s preoccupation with still and moving images; culture and ecology; history and mythology; the end and the beginning.

Rameshkumar Kothandapani is the Head of the Photographic Archives of the French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP). He has been working at the IFP for the past 27 years. Although he has been involved in various research projects at the Institute, he has been particularly active in studies related to South Indian art and history. In particular, he has documented Jain and Buddhist monuments throughout Tamil Nadu. There are about 160,000 photographs of temples and their idols in the archive. He worked with Zoe Headley, the founder of the STARS collection, as a co-investigator from 2015-19. STARS aims to document the history of South Indian studio photography. More recently, he has been actively involved in documenting and digitising endangered South Indian documents. His current research is supported by the British Library in London and the UCLA Library at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Zoe E. Headley is a social anthropologist, member of the Centre for Indian and South Asian Studies (CESAH, UMR 8564) and associate researcher of the Social Sciences Department of the French Institute of Pondicherry. An important part of her work is devoted to the transformations of social morphology in the villages of Southwestern India (Tamil Nadu), to the issues and negotiations of caste membership and to the contemporary articulations of customary law. In this context, she has coordinated the constitution of a ‘village’ digital archive, DATAH (Digital Archive of Tamil Agrarian History-1650-1950). More recently, she initiated the STARS (Studies in Tamil Studio Archives and Society) project, which she coordinated with Ramesh Kumar. Stars aims to document the history of studio photography in South India. The STARS.Archive currently includes over 42,000 digitised images (glass-plates, soft negatives and prints) and has resulted in a number of exhibitions in India, France, Germany and England curated by artists and social scientists as well as several MA dissertations.

Online guest speakers:

Aarati Akkapeddi https://aarati.online/

Danial Shah   https://www.danialshah.com/

Learning Objectives

● Develop a critical gaze on the social and political circumstances of production, consumption and circulation of photographic images in South Asia;

● Question, theoretically and creatively, the changing status of the photographic archive in Social Sciences;

● Explore different formats of visual narration from a diversity of art and/or social science based practionneers;

● Engage,in the immediate surroundings of Pondichery, in the interplay between art, photographic documentation and social sciences.

DAY 1 – MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11 — Introductions
17:00-18:00	Introductions and discussion of the objectives of the Workshop
DAY 2 – TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 — Photography Through the Lens of the Social Sciences
9:00-10:00	[Collective discussion] Viewing Family and Staging the Self-I: A discussion around personal photos
10:00-11:00	[Lecture] “Anthropology and the Lifeworld of a Photograph: Seeing One through the Other” Devarati Chakrabarti
11:00-11:30	Coffee/Tea break
11:30-12:00	[Collective discussion] Reading Photography
12:00-13:00	[Lecture] “Camera Bazaar. Trajectories of Photography in South India (1840-1980)” Zoe Headley
13:00-14:00	Lunch
14:00-15:00	[Film] “Photo Wallahs” (1991) by David & Judith MacDougall
15:0-16:00	[Lecture] “Seeing through Blind Spots. Trajectories of Documentary Photography and Photojournalism” Karthik Subramanian
16:00-16:30	Coffee/Tea break
16:30-17:30	[Project presentation] “How Do Photographs Happen? Some Reflections and Questions on the Making of an Image” Devarati Chakrabarti
17:30-18:00	[Collective discussion] Viewing Family and Staging the Self-II: Writing around personal photos
DAY 3 – WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13 — Photographic Archives and Visual Storytelling
9:00-10:00	[Project presentation] “A-Kin” Aarati Akkapeddi
10:00-11:00	[Project presentation] “The Challenges Involved in Setting Up a Collection of Digital Photo Archives” Rameshkumar Kothandapani
11:00-11:30	Coffee/Tea break
11:30-12:00	[Writing workshop] Writing with photographs
12:00-13:00	[Presentation] “Re-casting the Studio, Re-staging the Self”  Zoe Headley
13:00-14:00	Lunch
14:00-15:30	[Project presentation] “What is Real and What Isn’t? Photos as Desires” D. Shah
15:30-16:30	[Collective discussion] “Photography, Social Sciences, and Research Ethics”
16:00-16:30	Coffee/Tea break
16:30-18:00	[Film] “Sleepwalker’s Archive” (2023) by Karthik Subramanian, followed by a Q&A
DAY 4 – THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14
9:00-9:30	[Collective discussion] Viewing Family and Staging the Self-III: Extrapolating from personal photos
9:30-10:30	Visit to the IFP Photo Archives
10:30-11:00	[Writing workshop] Writing with Photographs
11:00-11:30	Coffee/Tea break
11:30-13:00	Restitution preparation
13:00-14:00	Lunch
14:00-16:00	Restitution preparation
16:00-16:30	Coffee/Tea break
16:30-18:00	Restitution

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Workshop III – Pondiphony, Pondysphonies

Coordinator: Dr. Nicolas Prévôt / Ethnomusicologist / Associate Professor at the Paris Nanterre University.

This experimental workshop will explore – or re-explore – Pondicherry in its sonic dimensions as part of an ethnographic approach to space and territory. Together with the people of Pondicherry, we will examine the role of sound and music in daily life, as well as the presence or absence of silence. Like smells and scents, whether perceived as pleasant or disturbing, noise and music are rarely experienced in isolation. Therefore, we will focus on human and non-human sonic practices and sound interactions in their relationship to space. With the help of portable and high-fidelity digital sound devices, we will experiment with practical techniques of field recording, archiving, and editing, and possibly sound mapping and soundwalks. Sound recording and mapping are understood here not only as methods of data collection but also as alternative and creative ways of presenting research outputs in the social sciences.

Teaching Team

Dr. Nicolas Prévôt is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Anthropology of the University Paris Ouest Nanterre and a member of the Centre de Recherche en Ethnomusicologie (CREM-LESC, CNRS). He has conducted fieldwork in Middle India (Bastar, Chhattisgarh State) and in the Southern Balkans (Macedonia). His research focuses on the ontology and the power of music, especially in ritual contexts, with a political perspective. As a coordinator of the EMAD Master’s programme (Ethnomusicology and the Anthropology of dance) and the initiator of a research-action project called “The musical heritage of the inhabitants of Nanterre” (http://www.inouiwebdoc.fr), he found a new interest in applied Ethnomusicology and visual Ethnomusicology.

Surbhi Mittal/pale blue dotter is an artist & storyteller who connects her inner world narratives to the outer world she inhabits. Her stories explore themes of multispecies existence, human behaviour and ecological collapse. She interweaves melody, spoken word & field recordings into durational immersions, textual material and speculative narratives. Her instruments include synthesisers, microphones & voice. Link to her work: https://linktr.ee/iampalebluedotter.

Learning Objectives

● Develop a reflection on sound as a mode of agency and interaction between entities (on the same level as language, gestures, visual representations, food, etc.);

● Consider sound and music as central elements of social life and environment, and therefore as crucial parameters in fieldwork ; not just as a matter for specialists (acousticians or musicologists);

● Acquire technical and practical skills related to field recording;

● Imagine sound editing and broadcasting as an alternative way of writing in social sciences.

DAY 1 – MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11
17:00-18:00	Initiation of Workshop: Participants and the Teaching Team will have a round of self-introductions; the Team will present the plan for the workshop. A sound walk near the institute, weather allowing.
DAY 2 – TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12
9:00-10:00	Pondiphony, Pondysphonies: Music, sounds, spaces, human and non-human interactions in Pondicherry Situating sound and soundscapes in Ethnographic Research (Nicolas Prévôt)
10:00-11:00	Situating sound and soundscapes in Arts (pale blue dotter)
11:00-11:30	Coffee/Tea break
11:30-12:15	Arts & Sciences: What is at stake? Discussion
12:15-13:00	Giving residents a voice, Finding the residents’ voice in the field? Discussion
13:00-14:00	Lunch
14:00-14:45	Sound recording logistics (sound devices)
14:45-15:30	Sound recording: practical initiation
15.30-16.00	Sound recording: training
16:00-16:30	Coffee/Tea break
16:30-18:00	Soundscapes: recording, sound mapping on the Field I
DAY 3 – WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13
8:30-13:00	Soundscapes: recording, sound mapping on the Field II
13:00-14:00	Lunch
14:00-16:00	Building the Narrative: Discussion
16:00-16:30	Coffee/Tea break
16:30-18:00	Soundscapes: recording, sound mapping on the Field III
DAY 4 – THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14
9:00-11:00	Listening Through the recordings (Editing I)
11:00-11:30	Coffee/Tea break
11:30-13:00	Putting Together: The Narrative (Editing II)
13:00-14:00	Lunch
14:00-16:00	Sound mapping or sound installation (Exhibiting sound)
16:00-16:30	Coffee/Tea break
16:30-18:00	Restitution

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VENUE

The event will take place at the French Institute of Pondicherry from November 11th to 15th, 2024.

CONTACTS OF CONVENORS

All correspondence should be addressed to the coordinators Alexis Avdeeff & Aurosree Paul through this unique email ID: winterschool@ifpindia.org.  More information and detailed programme will be available on the website of the Winter School: http://winterspy.hypotheses.org

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Dr. Alexis Avdeeff (IFP), Convener; Dr. Zoé Headley (CESAH), Tutor; Dr. Thanuja Mummidi (Pondicherry University), Tutor; Aurosree Paul (IFP), Coordinator ; Nicolas Prévôt (LESC-CREM), Tutor; Delphine Thivet (IFP), Head of the Social Sciences Department.