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Rethinking Visual Anthropology
| Dozent/in |
Till Förster |
| Veranstaltungsart |
Seminar
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| Wann |
Fr 10-12 Uhr |
| Ort |
Ethnologisches Seminar |
| Sprechstunde |
Nach Vereinbarung |
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Inhalt |
Visual anthropology is perhaps the most attractive sub discipline of social and cultural anthropology. It also looks back at a history that is nearly as long as that of anthropology itself. Already at the end of the 19th century when the first chairs of anthropology were established, ethnographers started to document what was then called “primitive life” by photos and later by film. The footage that came out of these first encounters soon proved to be much more than a neutral depiction of the “pure life of others”. Ethnographic film making soon became the more or less conscious construction of narratives about other cultures, rendering them accessible to a wider, mainly Western audience, and at the same time creating an image that often was more dominant than what has been described in other media. This construction has a history that mirrors as much the factual life of others as our own understanding of it.
This seminar starts with a presentation of ethnographic photography and then follows the history of visual anthropology from the late 19th century through the present day. It aims at a better comprehension of how the construction of others’ cultures through visual media shaped our understanding of it. It thus tries to deconstruct the narratives that informed and still inform visual anthropology. The students will be introduced to a sequence of influential ethnographic films and to some feature films that borrow tropes from visual anthropology. Every student is expected to comment on one of the films that will be screened and to write a short handout on how the respective films have been received in the public. The concluding sequence is dedicated to visual representations of others in new media as the internet. |
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Programm |
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Date |
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topic |
speaker |
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27.02.09 |
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Introduction |
Till Förster |
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06.03.09 |
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Basler Fasnacht |
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13.03.09
9–12h,
13–16h |
1.
2.
3.
4.
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Film Block I
Nanook of the North, Robert Flaherty1922
Trance and Dance in Bali, Margaret Mead 1952
The hunters. John Marschall 1958
Les masques de feuilles, Guy le Moal 1961 |
S. Bachmann
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20.03.09 |
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Ethnographic Photography |
Ch. Kley-Gomez |
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27.03.09
9–12h,
13–16:30h |
5.
6.
7.
8.
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Film Block II
Dead birds, Robert Gardener 1963
The Ax fight, Tim Ash 1975
Sonne des Hyänen, Ridha Behi 1977
Turkana conversations, David & Judith McDougall 1980 (3 films) |
Jelena Engler
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03.04.09 |
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No meeting |
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10.04.09 |
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Easter break |
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17.04.09 |
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No meeting |
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24.04.09
9–12h,
13–16:30h |
9.
10.
11.
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Film Block III
The gods must be crazy, Jamie Uys 1980
Wo die grünen Ameisen träumen, Werner Herzog 1984
Cannibal Tours, Dennis O’Rouke 1988 |
Kim Neyt
M. Zollinger
S. Schär
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01.05.09 |
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Labour Day |
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08.05.09
8–14h |
12.
13.
14.
15.
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Film Block IV
Süsse Hirse, Ivo Strecker 1994
Future Remembrance, Tobias Wendl 1998
Oh what a blow that phantom gave me, John Bishop & H. Prins 2003
Retour sur Ouvéa, Mehdi Lallaoui 2008 |
K. Jenni
S. Saggesse
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15.05.09
29.5.09
8-10 a.m.
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Linking Film and Anthropology I: The ethics of documentation
Linking Film and Anthropology II: The politics of representation |
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22.05.09 |
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Ascension Day break |
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29.05.09 |
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Outlook: The sensory turn in visual anthropology |
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Literatur |
Grimshaw, Anna, The Ethnographer’s Eye: Ways of Seeing in Modern Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Heider, Karl G, Ethnographic Film (Revised Edition). Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006.
Ruby, Jay, Picturing Culture: Essays on Film and Anthropology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. |
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Bemerkungen |
Modul Sachthematische Fragestellungen der Ethnologie (BSF - Ethnologie)
Modul Wissenschaftliche Vertiefung (BSF - Ethnologie)
Modul Gesellschaft und Politik 2 (BSF - Medienwissenschaft)
Modul Sachthemen der Ethnologie (MSF - Ethnologie)
Modul Social Anthropology (MSG - African Studies)
Registration required, limited to 40 participants. Vorbesprechung: Friday, December 19, 2009, 12:00 a.m., Seminarraum, Ethnologisches Seminar
Every student is expected to comment on one of the films that will be screened and to write a short handout of 2 pages.
Students can write full seminar papers of 20 to 25 pages to acquire 5 additional credits. Full papers are due by June 30, 2009. |
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Inhalt
Programm
Literatur
Bemerkungen
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studium