Michael Jackson in a Borneo Village; or Autobricolage and Other Acts of Erasure

BACKGROUND This text-based narrative merges creative writing and anthropology. The approach is inspired by Benjamin and his uses of photographs, street scenes and moments from his Berlin childhood. The work parallels writing by anthropologists Taussig and Hurston. I engage with memory as personal, fleeting and inconsistent. I address how creativity negotiates the under-researched lines between the living and the dead. CONTRIBUTION ‘Michael Jackson in a Borneo Village; or Autobricolage and Other Acts of Erasure’ was awarded second prize in the 2020 Society for Humanistic Anthropology (SHA) creative writing competition. Beating more than 100 entries from around the world, the work refuses conventional approaches to ‘collecting data’. I play with form to subvert speaking positions. I extend anthropology as method through a creative representation of experience. I made the work to speak back to the coloniser. I made the work as a representation of my people. This speaking back refuses to be caged in ongoing colonial structures. The new knowledge includes the voices of people as villagers would speak and view the world. A key finding is that authenticity can be studied through familial connections in ways that do not exist for other researchers. This new methodology demonstrates the innovation of the research and offers possibilities for future studies by championing long-term, place-based social relations. SIGNIFICANCE The work’s significance demonstrates the role of creativity in working with minorities, allowing for adaptability and inclusions of difference. The work is the final outcome in a cultural framework comprising extended dialogue over many years with participants. Published in top-tier journal Anthropology and Humanism, reviewers of the work praised its ‘eloquence’ and power as a ‘living archive’. The award led to invitations to publish a book by Palgrave and present an oral performance at the 2020 American Anthropological Association award ceremony.