Autoethnographic (D)escriptions: performance in dialogue with anthropological research approaches

Abstract

The goal of this article is to develop the notion of sensory autoethnographic (d)escription to experience possibilities of making the scene present through writing. The article draws on anthropology of art and performance studies to analyze three poetic writings and the mediated senses based on the experience of seeing the shows Caprichosa voz que vem do pensamento, by Aderbal Freire Filho, Maria Alice Poppe and Tato Taborda, Casa de especiarias, by Terpsí Teatro de Dança, directed by Carlota Albuquerque, and a dance video by the dancer Marcela Reichelt. It is concluded that autoethnographic (d)escription as a writing genre is a means of making the scene present and illustrates new perspectives in which the personal experience is inscribed.