Cineforum as a Participatory Field Device: Film-Viewing for Sensitive Knowledge in Ethnography

This article explores the cineforum, an activity where participants collectively decide which film to watch and lead its discussion, as an ethnographic device for investigating sensitive knowledge, particularly emotional border experiences. Borders are arbitrary political constructs that gain unique meanings from historical, cultural, and sociopolitical contexts. Anthropologists have long analyzed borders through ethnographic research fostering encounters with field actors. Yet, as borders increasingly manifest in symbolic dimensions, anthropology must offer inventive ethnographic responses. Drawing on short-term ethnographies at the Irish (three months), Spanish-Moroccan (two months), and Turkish-Syrian (two months) borders, this article reflects on how film discussions can reveal intimate narratives that give meaning to the border. It also considers the potential of using film in contexts marked by silent trauma, indifference, and polarization to avoid harm while accounting for participants’ emotional realities.