ANTHRO 402/602a and Film 454a:
Visual Anthropology and Ethnographic FIlmmaking

Professor: Karen Nakamura
http://www.disabilitystudies.jp/nakamura/courses

Seminar: Time TBA (location TBA)

Last offered: -
Next offered: Fall 2006

Quick Links:

• Classes V2 Server (class resources)
• Anthro 402/602 blog (weekly assignments, etc.)
• CDigix Server (online film screenings)

Course Description

This is a course on visual anthropology and ethnographic filmmaking. It is primarily designed as a production class where you will be making your own short ethnographic film, photographic ethnography, or other non-textual ethnographic work based on fieldwork conducted during the semester. There is also an analysis component where we will look at ethnographic films and read works on visual anthropology theory and methods.

Visual anthropology is premised on the belief that other cultures can be understood and represented through the visual symbols that they use, based on an analysis derived from long term participant/observation of the community. Photographs and films of other cultures have a seemingly objective explanatory power that masks the subjectivity implicit in their making. We will analyze the history, philosophy, ethics, production and consumption of ethnographic film and photoethnography within both the academic field of anthropology as well as broader popular culture.

For the final project in this class, students will produce their own ethnographic short film or written, visual, or auditory ethnography using the principles of visual anthropology. Students are strongly encouraged to work in teams or work cooperatively for their final projects.

Prerequisites and Requirements

No course prerequisites. Class limited to 16 students.

Seniors and graduate students in Anthropology or Film Studies have preference, however undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines are welcome pending the enrollment limit.

Equipment Requirements

All students are required to have their own cameras and tape recorders for this class, or have access to them (see notes below):

Before giving up hope, however, see the instructor and we'll work on getting you the resources you need for the class.

Editing Resources on Campus

Undergraduate majors in Film Studies taking this class as a Film Studies course: Video cameras (Mini-DV) and filming equipment are available for rental at no charge at the Digital Media Center for the Arts (DMCA). You must provide your own tapes and DVD-R disks. The DMCA has fully equipped digital video workstations using Apple Final Cut Pro as well as non-linear analog editing equipment.

Undergraduate majors in Anthropology and other graduate students: Video and digital image editing workstations are available at ITS -- 155 Whitney Avenue.

Doctoral students in Anthropology: Doctoral students in anthropology enrolled in this class also will have limited access by permission of the instructor to the Anthropology Media Lab, located on the 2nd floor of 121 Whitney.

Field Sites

In order to complete this course successfully you will need to spend 2-3 hours each week of the semester (about 30-40 hours total) at your fieldsite. You need to establish your field site by the third week of classes. You are strongly encouraged to work in teams or to work cooperatively (i.e., have individual fieldsites but cooperate in filming someone else's fieldsite in return for them filming yours).

Fieldsite Requirements

Remember that your fieldsites should have the following characteristics:

• Relatively stable membership (same people getting together)
• Bounded physical or geographical space (same location)
• Some form of microculture (shared interests, communal knowledge)
• You enjoy being there as you'll be spending a lot of time there

The community under study also must meet the following requirements:

• Must have full-informed consent of everyone involved. All participants or their guardians (if under 18) must give informed consent.
• Must not be part of the Yale community (i.e., must be off-campus)
• Must not be involved with any illegal activities
• Must not be involved with activities that may endanger the life or well-being of the anthropologist or informants

Projects 2006 and the 1st Biannual Heider Award

Course Assignments and Final Project

Course Grade Distribution
Final project	50%
Class Blog	10%
Mini Projects	20%
Fieldnotes	20%

Textbooks and Course Readings

The required textbooks will be available at the Labyrinth bookstore. Course readings in the forms of articles will be distributed in class and also available through the ClassesV2 system.

• Barbash, Ilisa, and Lucien Taylor (1997) Cross-cultural filmmaking: a handbook for making documentary and ethnographic films and videos. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0520087607 (pbk. alk. paper). $34.95
• Hampe, Barry (1997) Making Documentary Films and Reality Videos. New York: Henry Holt. $17.95
• Ruby, Jay (2000). Picturing culture: explorations of film & anthropology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. $20
• Banks, Marcus (2001). Visual methods in social research. London: Sage.

Useful Links

• Anthro citation style guide
• Jay Ruby's article "Visual Anthropology" in the Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology (1996)
• Yale Film Studies: Film Analysis Guide
• The Grammar of TV and Film
• Society for Visual Anthropology Web Resources for Visual Anthropology
• Visual Anthropology Webring Web Archive in Visual Anthropology
• Visual Anthropology Review -- official journal of the Society for Visual Anthropology

Audio Editing

• Transom.org: Tool Guide
• Transom.org: Basic guide
• Transom.org: Audio editing with Audacity

Ethics:

• Darkness in the Heart of Knowledge by Fernando CoronilDarkness in El Dorado Task Force Report (read Vol. 1: pp 21-47)
• AAA Code of Ethics

How to Guides

• Ken Stone's Final Cut Pro Page
  • iDVD 5.0 instructions - by Ken Stone

Library Resources