Research Article

SENSORY ETHNOGRAPHIC PRACTICES IN TURKEY: LIFE ON THEIR BACKS (2004) AND LAST SEASON SHAWAKS (2009)

Volume: 15 Number: 3 July 1, 2025
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SENSORY ETHNOGRAPHIC PRACTICES IN TURKEY: LIFE ON THEIR BACKS (2004) AND LAST SEASON SHAWAKS (2009)

Abstract

This article explores documentary film production in Turkey, focusing on sensory ethnographic cinema, an artistic approach that highlights local cultural practices through the lens of the body, senses, and emotions. While not explicitly categorized as sensory ethnography, certain Turkish documentaries such as Life on Their Backs (Yeşim Ustaoğlu, 2004) and Last Season Shawaks (Kazım Öz, 2009) embody similar artistic elements. By highlighting the key characteristics of these two films -such as immersing the audience in a ‘being there’ experience, their expansive views including non-human aspects, and their distinct regional focus- the article suggests that the geographical scope of sensory etnography extends beyond the works produced by the Sensory Ethnography Lab where this genre originated. Accordingly, the article conducts a comparative analysis of Life on Their Backs, Last Season Shawaks, and Sensory Ethnography Lab’s Sweetgrass (Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Ilisa Barbash, 2009) within the theoretical frameworks of new materialism and actor-network theories.

Keywords

Actor-network theory, art, cinema, sensory ethnographic film, new materialism

References

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APA
Pınar, E. (2025). SENSORY ETHNOGRAPHIC PRACTICES IN TURKEY: LIFE ON THEIR BACKS (2004) AND LAST SEASON SHAWAKS (2009). The Turkish Online Journal of Design Art and Communication, 15(3), 939-954. https://doi.org/10.7456/tojdac.1674088
AMA
1.Pınar E. SENSORY ETHNOGRAPHIC PRACTICES IN TURKEY: LIFE ON THEIR BACKS (2004) AND LAST SEASON SHAWAKS (2009). TOJDAC. 2025;15(3):939-954. doi:10.7456/tojdac.1674088
Chicago
Pınar, Ekin. 2025. “SENSORY ETHNOGRAPHIC PRACTICES IN TURKEY: LIFE ON THEIR BACKS (2004) AND LAST SEASON SHAWAKS (2009)”. The Turkish Online Journal of Design Art and Communication 15 (3): 939-54. https://doi.org/10.7456/tojdac.1674088.
EndNote
Pınar E (July 1, 2025) SENSORY ETHNOGRAPHIC PRACTICES IN TURKEY: LIFE ON THEIR BACKS (2004) AND LAST SEASON SHAWAKS (2009). The Turkish Online Journal of Design Art and Communication 15 3 939–954.
IEEE
[1]E. Pınar, “SENSORY ETHNOGRAPHIC PRACTICES IN TURKEY: LIFE ON THEIR BACKS (2004) AND LAST SEASON SHAWAKS (2009)”, TOJDAC, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 939–954, July 2025, doi: 10.7456/tojdac.1674088.
ISNAD
Pınar, Ekin. “SENSORY ETHNOGRAPHIC PRACTICES IN TURKEY: LIFE ON THEIR BACKS (2004) AND LAST SEASON SHAWAKS (2009)”. The Turkish Online Journal of Design Art and Communication 15/3 (July 1, 2025): 939-954. https://doi.org/10.7456/tojdac.1674088.
JAMA
1.Pınar E. SENSORY ETHNOGRAPHIC PRACTICES IN TURKEY: LIFE ON THEIR BACKS (2004) AND LAST SEASON SHAWAKS (2009). TOJDAC. 2025;15:939–954.
MLA
Pınar, Ekin. “SENSORY ETHNOGRAPHIC PRACTICES IN TURKEY: LIFE ON THEIR BACKS (2004) AND LAST SEASON SHAWAKS (2009)”. The Turkish Online Journal of Design Art and Communication, vol. 15, no. 3, July 2025, pp. 939-54, doi:10.7456/tojdac.1674088.
Vancouver
1.Ekin Pınar. SENSORY ETHNOGRAPHIC PRACTICES IN TURKEY: LIFE ON THEIR BACKS (2004) AND LAST SEASON SHAWAKS (2009). TOJDAC. 2025 Jul. 1;15(3):939-54. doi:10.7456/tojdac.1674088