'Translocal-By-Necessity : Ethnographic Film-Making During Conflict and Displacement
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This chapter discusses the possibilities of ethnographic film for studying migration and movement due to conflict. It is based on anthropological fieldwork and a long-term ethnographic film in progress called “Bread and Salt,” featuring 26 years of footage. The film starts in Little Waterfall, a remote village in Syria’s Aleppo province, introducing two cousins and their families, as well as the anthropologist’s role in the village. After a massacre in 2013, some villagers became refugees in Europe, while others were displaced within Syria. Through the application of anthropological methods, such as participant observation, interviews and ethnographic film, the initial research field in one locality, shifted to a multi-sited, translocal and transnational field by necessity, because of the impact of the Syrian war. The film shows the filmmaker searching for missing villagers in northern Syria and reuniting with family in the Netherlands and Germany. The final part depicts life after fleeing, highlighting family reunification and the impact of the Syrian regime's fall in 2024, exploring the ethical issues faced during research. Through a translocal lens this chapter offers reflections both on how im-mobilities influenced the methods, positionalities of researcher and the ethical dilemmas that emerged within these conflict dynamics.