Embodied Speculation: A Methodological Reflection About the Handling of Bodily Waste in Practice

In this abstract, we ask: What methodological moves can we take to think differently about handling bodily waste and speculating its less resource-intensive futures? We experiment with the method of participant observation. One of us has conducted 160 hours of ethnographic fieldwork at two municipal nursing homes in a larger Danish city. The purpose was to gain insights into diapering and care practices, as we are involved in a research and innovation project that explores possibilities to develop a more sustainable diaper system. This fieldwork has implied embodying the handling of bodily waste. And it has generated overspills. Overspills, through which the fieldworker has been confronted with her ideas of the “goods” and “bads” (Law & Mol 2002) of current diapering practices. A confrontation that has made her speculate differently about the two nursing homes’ current handling of bodily waste. Examining the handling of bodily waste can methodologically be approached through “ethnography as a participatory practice in which learning is embodied, emplaced, sensorial, and empathetic” (Pink, 2015: 95). The usefulness of sensory experiences in conducting participatory ethnography lies in how bodily impressions help us engage with and analyze “assumptions about what is good and right (normative assumptions) built into practical questions about what to do about waste” (Lepawsky & Liboiron, 2022: 59). Thus, this contribution – through examples of the handling of bodily waste in practice – makes the case for participant observation as a valuable, methodological resource for tinkering and speculating with bodily waste and care in, yes, caring ways.