Embodying Facts, Figures, and Faiths in Narrative Artistic Performances in Rural Bangladesh

TL;DR

This ethnographic study explores how rural Bangladeshi communities use traditional performances to communicate moral lessons and history, emphasizing cultural context and adaptability in data storytelling.

Contribution

It reveals how indigenous cultural practices incorporate multiple ethical frameworks and adapt to technology, informing culturally sensitive data visualization design.

Findings

Communities use traditional performances to teach morals and history.

Performances integrate factual, emotional, and aesthetic elements.

Adaptability to technology enhances audience engagement.

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in telling serious stories with data. Designers organize information, construct narratives, and present findings to inform audiences. However, many of these practices emerge from modern information visualization rhetoric and ethical frameworks which may marginalize communities with low digital and media literacy. In a ten-month-long ethnographic study in three Bangladeshi villages, we investigated how these communities use entertainment and cultural practices, namely Puthi, Bhandari Gaan, and Pot music, to instruct, communicate traditional moral lessons and recall history. We found that these communities embrace polyvocality and multiple ethical frameworks in their performances, construct narratives combining factuality, emotionality, and aesthetics, and adapt their performances to changing technology and audience needs. Our findings provide HCI, visualization, and ethical data practitioners with implications for the design of accessible and culturally appropriate ways of presenting data narratives in data-driven systems.