The ethnographic novel as activist mode of existence: translating the field with homeless people and beyond

The paper argues in favour of creative methodologies as tool for relevant academic praxis. It provides the analysis of a concrete case in which a non-academic text–a composite book made of a participant’s introduction, an ethnographic novel, 21 graphic illustrations and a political essay–allowed for a meaningful re-appropriation of a fieldwork with homeless people in Italy. Such re-appropriation is understood and theorized as a research-activist ‘mode of existence’, namely as a way to use creative methodologies to pursue active and emancipatory engagement with vulnerable groups. The paper analyses this ‘mode of existence’ as a process made of several ‘translations’, or orientations towards the same interests, and it clearly shows the role of non-human agencies in their unfolding. Through its more-than-human narrative, the paper provides an innovative contribution to debates on research-activism and a new reflection on how to engage meaningfully with vulnerable groups. The conclusion highlights areas of improvement to further strengthen the activist-research mode of existence presented in the paper.