In this article, Roger Canals argues that, among other aspects, multi-modal projects are conceived as an “eclectic assemblage” of different yet interconnected outcomes (text, film, photography, exhibitions, blogs…), involving different skills and modes of apprenticeship, that may critically complement each other.

Exercise #1

Think on a project that you would like to undertake (or that you are currently carrying out). Imagine three different strategies of representation that you could use to disseminate it and make it public. Comment it to your partner by highlighting why you have chosen these modalities of representation and not others.  Remember that the main interest of the multi-modal approach lies on the fact that, considered as a whole, the totality of the outcomes are be able to convey something that cannot be solely transmitted using one specific mode of representation. 

The section “Images and events” tells the kind of encounters and situations that initially sparked my interest in carrying out a research on the cult of María Lionza in Barcelona. From the perspective of the multi-modal turn, this kind of information is relevant since it permits to conceive the anthropological research as a lived experience –and not only as an allegedly academic or intellectual process, detached from “real life”.

Exercise #2

Close your eyes and think on a topic for which you feel a real passion and on which you would like to carry out a research. Try to remember where this interest comes from. Share your thoughts with your partner. Consider these questions: Are these initial motivations “solely academic”? How do they connect to your “personal life”? Do you think that it would be justified and intellectually relevant to provide this primordial “context” in an academic outcome (article, film, book, photo-essay and so forth)? 

This article analyses some sequences of the film A Goddess in Motion (María Lionza in Barcelona). In this work, I use a cinematic technique called “split screen” consisting in dividing the screen into two smaller ones. The objective of such resource is to draw a comparison between the practice of the cult of María Lionza in Venezuela and in Barcelona.

Exercise #3

The “split-screen” is a technique currently used by many filmmakers of all genres. Watch the following films made by two contemporary anthropologists. What do you think that they used the “split screen” for? In what sense their purpose differs from the one employed into the film A Goddess in Motion? Would this filmic strategy be adequate for your own projects?