Rhizomatic Graphic Novel. Research, paper and unpredictable fieldworks

Abstract

This text focusses on a fieldwork experience in which we aimed to use illustrations and images to disseminate research outcomes. Inspired by the concept of rhizome in the work of Deleuze and Guattari, we will discuss the method and contradictions of research when it seeks to produce cultural and visual texts/objects which aspire to reach beyond academic circles and engage in co-narration practices. We deal with the ambiguity of our own ethnographic experience presenting a diary of what happens in fieldwork: the Foggia area between the so-called "runway" in Borgo Mezzanone and the “ghetto” in Rignano – two migrant day laborers' settlements, two islands surrounded by endless agricultural fields. We will try to explain the method we used to build what we have called "rhizomatic graphic novel", that is, a piece of work created by researchers from a heterogeneous range of disciplines starting from a shared field experience, which has radically challenged our initial intentions unsettling the relations between “informants” and “researchers”.