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Mapping Senufo: Reframing Questions, Reevaluating Sources, and Reimagining a Digital Monograph

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2021

Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi Open the ORCID record for Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi [Opens in a new window]  and
Constantine Petridis
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Abstract

Mapping Senufo: Art, Evidence, and the Production of Knowledge – an in-progress, collaborative, born-digital publication – will offer a model for joining theories about the construction of identities and the politics of knowledge production with research and publication practice. In this article, we examine how computational methods have led us to reframe research questions, reevaluate sources, and reimagine the form of a digital monograph. We also demonstrate how our use of digital technologies, attention to iteration, and collaborative mode of working have generated fresh insights into a corpus of arts identified as Senufo, the nature of evidence for art-historical research, and digital publication. We posit that the form of a digital publication itself can bring processes of knowledge construction to the fore and unsettle expectations of a tidy, authoritative narrative.

Résumé

Résumé

Mapping Senufo: Art, Evidence, and the Production of Knowledge, une publication en cours, collaborative et nativement numérique, offrira un modèle pour joindre les théories sur la construction des identités et les politiques de production de connaissances avec la recherche et la pratique de publication. Dans cet article, nous examinons comment des questions informatiques nous ont amenés à recadrer les questions de recherche, à réévaluer les sources et à réinventer la forme d’une monographie numérique. Nous démontrons également comment notre utilisation des technologies numériques, l’attention portée à l’itération et le mode de travail collaboratif ont généré de nouvelles perspectives sur un corpus d’arts identifié comme Sénoufo, sur la nature des sources pour la recherche en histoire de l’art et sur la publication numérique. Nous postulons que la forme d’une publication numérique elle-même peut mettre en avant les processus de construction des connaissances et perturber les attentes d’un récit ordonné et faisant autorité.

Type
Special Section on the Digital Humanities
Information
History in Africa , Volume 48 , June 2021 , pp. 165 - 209
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the African Studies Association

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