{"id":1267,"date":"2026-05-28T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T07:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/hasspgrblog\/?p=1267"},"modified":"2026-05-27T09:23:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T08:23:26","slug":"digital-ethnography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/hasspgrblog\/2026\/05\/28\/digital-ethnography\/","title":{"rendered":"Making in the waiting: digital ethnography\u00a0and deeper reading"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Heidi Affi, a doctoral researcher in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, reflects on what emerged when her project was subjected to unexpected delays.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heidi,\u202fyour\u202fresearch focuses on north-eastern Syria. What are you exploring?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m from the Jazira region of Syria, which is the Syrian chunk of Upper Mesopotamia. It\u2019s separated from the rest of Syria by the Euphrates. Al Jazira directly translates to ‘the island<\/em>.\u2019 I\u2019m exploring how land, memory and art intersect in a region shaped by successive waves of violence and resistance towards the land and its various peoples. Many different groups constitute the Jazira. It\u2019s positioned, at least to the Syrian and Turkish nation-states, and their colonial predecessors, as a periphery or margin territory. I\u2019m curious as to how expressions and practices of memory detail, respond, and possibly move beyond that peripheralization.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve encountered some delays which you\u2019ve used creatively to develop a \u2018digital ethnography\u2019 – what does that involve?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve had a delay in ethics approval as well as an injury (and subsequent surgery) that destabilized my mobility for months. While this has mainly not been fun, I got to encounter new avenues + sites of research. My online archival work (meant to explore relationships to land in the Jazira) shifted to include contemporary, user-generated materials on YouTube.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been working with folk and shaabi music from the region as an embodied transmission site of history and life. Particularly displacement, migration, agriculture, social life, entertainment, folklore, and more. It\u2019s been so great watching old and new music videos, archival family weddings, people gathered for dabke or rababa sessions, folks singing mawwals.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This helps add a significant layer to materials collected by Jazrawis themselves that responds to discriminatory state national\u202frepresentations\u202fand even well-intentioned international ethnographic or anthropological documentation. Such \u2018user-generated\u2019 contemporary materials embellish archives, demonstrating the deeply intertwined cultural practices with the landscape in the historic instance. From an online or remote access standpoint, these videos are critical to engaging with how Jazrawis record and share aspects of themselves publicly. Syrians\u2019 usage of the internet\u202f, both in war documentation and as a means of connecting during and after the war, is fascinating, so it feels right to tap into this approach.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waiting in prolonged limbo\u202ffor ethics approval for your project can be a difficult experience for postgraduate researchers. What are your reflections on this waiting time?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My advice: get started way earlier. All PGRs who have fieldwork should begin their ethics process in their first term. I\u2019m not kidding. It can take six months or more, depending on the scope of your plans, so if you want to start fieldwork at the outset of your second year, get started early. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another experience that many\u202fdoctoral\u202fstudents will recognise is needing to adapt your plans due to a period of illness or disability. Are you happy to share what happened to you and how it affected your work?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Warning : injury description).<\/em> I got in a nasty Lime bike crash in August 2025 and had to get the inside of my knee reconstructed on multiple fronts. It\u2019s been a very interesting journey. I\u2019ve been very privileged to access care and support throughout, but being disabled for about 6 months is still just a difficult experience. I learned a lot about how I move through the world, how ableist public space can be (and how ableist people + institutions can be!) and how to manage a very different pace of life. I first felt a bit ashamed that it took a debilitating injury to open my eyes to this layer of many people\u2019s struggle and added oppression. These ableisms are fundamentally intertwined with race, class and imperialism \u2013 and really highlight their operating mechanisms. And these are just reflections as someone without dependents and who lives a very privileged life! \u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously,\u00a0my work slowed down significantly but I also deepened my reading practice and enjoyed all the online exploration.\u00a0The\u00a0waiting\u00a0led me to a richer digital research practice.\u202f\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0encountered\u00a0a data set that I truly\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0expect;\u00a0one\u00a0which\u00a0asks me to expand both my methodological and theoretical approaches. As an interdisciplinarian, I\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0ask for more.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image: Digital ethnography: screenshots from a Raqqa, Syria street view<\/a> and video<\/a> collaged on top of each other – Heidi Affi.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Heidi Sarah Affi<\/strong> is a Syrian American artist-researcher, writer, and cultural practitioner working across experimental arts, radical ecologies, and political memory. Her wider practice is grounded in visual and embodied storytelling emerging from marginal spaces and political movements. Through collaborative research, publishing, and interdisciplinary cultural programming, her work explores counter-memories, surrealism, embodied geography, and relations to the earth. She also brings nearly a decade of experience working with environmental justice organisations across the US and UK, with a focus on community-led practice, sustainable development, and liberatory pedagogy. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Heidi holds an MSc in Human Rights and Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science and is currently an AlQasimi Scholar undertaking a PhD at the University of Exeter. Her research focuses on Syrian memories in the Jazira region through land, art, and alternative political imaginaries. She is also a published author and co-founder of\u202fAzl<\/a>, a digital publication of politics and art, and \u202fSurreal Maps<\/a>, a performance lecture series and research platform. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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