In “Turkish Kaleidoscope: Writing Ethnography as Graphic Fiction”, Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, Jenny argues that presenting ethnographic research in fiction form offers a more complex, expansive, and multidimensional understanding of social reality. Whereas traditional ethnographies require analyses and conclusions, fiction (and specifically her above named graphic novel from 2021) allows for a more open-ended account which often comes closer to reflecting lived experience. She asks:

Is a fragmented, multisource narrative closer to the truth than a carefully crafted narrative with a conclusion? Or is it a sleight of hand, in which the author stands back and fans out like a hand of cards the versions of truth narrated by a variety of people and leaves it up to the reader to “understand”?

Paul T Levin, the director of SUITS, has also recently taken up the topic of art’s relationship to academia in a Substack post.

That involves careful study of the subject matter. It involves seeing without prejudice and often trying to make yourself forget what you know in order to capture what you actually see.

“On truth in art and research”