Manifesto

In a world where the paths we tread often blur into a hazy oblivion, we choose to pause, take a breath, and perceive the world around us. ThirdShelf is an ethnographically engaged lens through vivid storytelling. Picture a vast library, each shelf holding a distinct facet of human understanding. The first shelf contains widely known facts, the second delves into the deeper historical and cultural context, but it’s the third shelf that beckons with hidden treasures, threads of experiences, networks, boundaries, and fluids that resonate in the sinews of contemporary ways of living. Within the tapestry of existence, we find stories. Stories of joy and tribulation, collective and individual narratives that transcend conventional narration.

We value the possibility of seeing and being seen in the obscure and experimental fragments of anthropological practice. To create a space where our entangled thoughts can find a home, where we no longer justify our critiques, our ideas, our impulses to do things differently. ThirdShelf assembles why we gravitate to and dream up what ethnography could be, exploring our fascination with the interior of the mind. We bridge the gap between academia and the general public, which enables us to engage with the material in a more multisensory and emotionally resonant manner.

The personal is ethnographic. The self is called into the experience, from craftmanship to conceptualisation, and so the self is not absent in the body of work. At the same time, we refuse to be protagonists existing within the isolated lines of our own tales. We probe into narratives that intertwine experiences, bind us together and prompt us to see beyond ourselves. In the narratives we curate, we share stories that both challenge and comfort, inviting readers to navigate the depths of humanness. We are more than a mere collection of words and images; a sanctuary of ideas, a gallery of human experience. ThirdShelf invites you to listen, to learn, and to reimagine.