RELIABLE researchers Shibaji Bose and Spriha Roy presented at the annual conference on “Insecurities and Securities: Life, Livelihood and Planetary Concerns,” organised by the Calcutta Research Group at the end of September, 2026.
The conference provided an intellectual and methodological space for RELIABLE to share and discuss the visual ethnographic methods being employed, during the “Precarities, Performances and Stories” panel. The conference’s focus on insecurity, everyday life, livelihoods and planetary concerns resonated strongly with RELIABLE’s attempt to understand how people and institutions navigate climate uncertainty and unpredictable hazards.
“The panel was useful in opening a dialogue between visual storytelling, lived experience and the less visible practices of preparedness. This provided a starting point for our project’s philosophy of foregrounding the everyday and often invisible work through which mid-level actors attempt to sustain reliability amid uncertainty, and for dialogue with researchers and practitioners from South Asia and Europe in the audience.” Shibaji Bose
The conference and the panel encouraged reflection on the relationship between precarity and performance and how actors perform roles of preparedness, care, coordination and response under conditions where outcomes cannot be fully anticipated. This was particularly relevant to RELIABLE’s engagement with actors in Kolkata, the Sundarbans, and beyond. The discussions also helped situate visual ethnography as a method of inquiry for unpacking overlooked forms of climate adaptation, institutional labour, and everyday resilience.