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| Resources This page contains links to useful auxiliary materials, as well as listings for Kelley Library holdings of interest, all of which are designed to augment the course readings and the Heider textbook. The links are not exhaustive, but they are pre-screened and reliable. As much as possible, videos shown in class and books discussed or recommended will be held on reserve. At least some assigned readings will be listed here, as well as on the schedule. [This section is still a work in progress--but the "bones" are in place.] general anthropology l visual anthropology l courseware l blogs l mediated culture l ethnographic films and filmmakers photography and photographers l drawing and painting l theory and criticism l professional associations l journals l links l library This section contains useful background sources on anthropological theory and practice, as well as sites devoted to professional organizations and journals. It also includes sources on the broader spectrum of visual anthropology. Sights: Visual Anthropology Forum: an excellent source for guidance on doing field work. The papers are by practicing anthropologists using visual media to augment their work. Anthropology.net is a blog that seems to focus on archaeology and physical anthropology (aka biological anthropology), but other aspects of the field show up in the archives. National Anthropological Archives (and the Human Studies Film Archives) from the Department of Anthropology at the Museum of Natural History/Smithsonian Institutions. The site features several online exhibits that provide insight into the varieties of visual anthropology. General information, professional journals, and websites dedicated to visual anthropology in its many forms. I used to link a summary of visual anthropology by a guy who called himself RustyCam. The site has since evaporated, but in its new incarnation you can see a variety of photos and videos that explore various aspects of human culture. Jay Ruby pretty much defined this field, so his essay in the Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology is foundational. His Web Archive in Visual Anthropology lists articles of note, both his and those written by other important ethnographers--it's a treasure trove of articles and information pertinent to this course. Visual Anthropology.net: online news and resources; the site provides a nice clearinghouse for information of interest to this course. Visual Anthropology Review: the official publication of the Society for Visual Anthropology, a section of the American Anthropological Association. The society "promotes the study of visual representation and media" and provides a helpful description of the field on its home page. The journal page has a helpful section of guidelines for the evaluation of ethnographic visual media. Wikipedia's article on Visual Anthropology is quite thorough and provides a nice history, some good links, and a broad overview. It's a good place to look for who's done what in the field. The International Visual Sociology Association states that its purpose is "to promote the study, production, and use of visual images, data, and materials in teaching, research, and applied activities, and to foster the development and use of still photographs, film, video, and electronically transmitted images in sociology and other social sciences and related disciplines and applications." The overlap with visual ethnography provides useful perspectives. Often, other peoples' take on the topic of ethnographic film and filmmakers, and other forms of visual anthropology can be instructive. I'm providing this section because the courses listed contain links to material I don't, and often include more extensive bibliographies than I do. For articles mentioned in some of the course outlines, consult an appropriate database through the Kelley Library. MIT OpenCourseware: Documenting Culture: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has embraced the internet as a means of making excellent courses available to the public. This course covers many of the same issues and themes that mine does, but without the project component. The reading list is helpful for suggesting possible topics to explore. John Bishop's, Ethnographic Film, from the World Arts & Culture program at UCLA. MIT OpenCourseWare: Photography and Truth: another MIT course with a valuable perspective. The University of Houston's Jerome Crowder teaches a course in Visual Anthropology, with an IT focus. I admit to having adapted one of his exercises to replace one that wasn't working in this class. Becoming an Ethnographic Photographer is a grade-school lesson plan from Collaborative Arts Resources for Education in San Diego. Although aimed at a young audience, there's plenty of useful information for budding college-level anthropologists as well. Not exactly "courseware," The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling nonetheless offers some terrific examples of how new media can be used to tell stories. Particularly helpful for our purposes is the page on "getting started"--which may provide a boost to those who haven't found a project yet. The introductory video on the main page is itself an example of how the idea works. Many of the ideas introduced on the site can be used to approach ethnographic storytelling both in video and still photography. The Center for Digital Storytelling is an international organization ( U. S. and Canada) dedicated to helping people and communites tell important stories. The case studies listed can give you an idea of where this course can take you, and the resources are inspiring. Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology, a collective blog, according to it's "about" page, is "devoted to both bringing anthropology to a wider audience as well as providing an online forum for discussing the latest developments in the field. We are a group of Ph.D. students and professors teaching and studying anthropology and are excited to share it with you." Visual Anthropology of Japan bills itself as "a place where visual-anthro-blogger students can hunt and gather." The blog's author, Steven C. Fedorowicz, describes himself as "a cultural anthropologist, visual anthropologist, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Kansai Gaidai University and reluctant blogger." A potential project for this class would be to set up a blog related to visual anthropology for the use of students taking this course. An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube, by Michael Wesch, who teaches Digital Ethnography at Kansas State. You may already have heard of him. His blog, Digital Ethnography, is well worth taking a look at, especially his video showcase (which includes the final version of "The Machine is Us/ing Us"--which is why some of you may already know who this guy is). I'm somewhat overwhelmed by the possibilites of digital media these days, but Wesch helps make sense of it all, and the 55 minute video of his presentation to the Library of Congress has caused me to rethink this class. Stay tuned. Ethnographic Films and Filmmakers This section includes additional information and background on filmmakers we discuss in class, as well as others. It also includes sites that cover theory and practice, and, where appropriate, information on documentary film in general. There's an entire page on YouTube devoted to visual anthropology, and a lively conversation going on about theory and practice. For more on theory and criticism, see the links further down on this page. Sol Worth and the Study of Visual Communication, by Larry Gross, provides a useful introduction to ways of seeing--and recording--the world. There are two especially relevant chapters on semiotics, Chapter 1: "The Development of a Semiotic of Film," and Chapter 2: "Toward An Ethnographic Semiotic." The layout is a little confusing because it tries to replicate the page numbers and setup of the book, but it's worth looking into. The Emergence of Ethnographic Film Practice: Past Travels and Future Itineraries, by Prerana Reddy. Reddy is a writer and filmmaker and also a program coordinator for African Film Festival Inc. She holds an MA in Film Studies from New York University. The essay provides a brief history of ethnographic film, plus a basic bibliography. Maya Deren
Robert Flaherty
Robert Gardner
John Marshall
Jean Rouch
Napoleon Chagnon/Tim Asch
The best source of ethnographic photography, bar none, can be found in National Geographic Magazine. I strongly suggest that you mine your grandparents' collections, or frequent Half Price Books to pick up copies of useful examples. The accompanying articles often provide insights into field work and techniques. Using "National Geographic" as a search term in the Kelley Library catalogue can help you locate holdings on campus, and the Library has a copy of the Index if you're looking for a particular culture or photographer. If you have cable television, the National Geographic On Demand channel frequently shows ethnographic films (including, recently, a film John Marshall made 15 years after his last visit to the San). The Ethnographic Photography page on Visual Anthropology.net provides a few sources on the topic. Yahoo's directory of Ethnographic Photography is useful, if visually annoying. Ways of Seeing: Photographs as Historical Evidence comes from the National Centre for History Education in Australia. The linked page discusses the problem of staging in John Lindt's photographs, as does this one: Ethnographic Photography and John Lindt by Tony Hughes-d'Aeth from the Sights Visual Anthropology Forum. Photographing People in the World, out of the University of Virginia, is a page under construction, but with a bit of useful information. It's worth taking a look at just for the photo at the top of the page. The Library of Congress has several archives of ethnographic and historical photographs. The Veterans History project may be of particular interest to some of you in search of a project focus. Edward
Curtis: Pictorialist and Ethnographic Adventurist comes from
the Library of Congress's American
Memory online exhibits. Other sources on Curtis: American
Masters (PBS); Frontier
Photographer: Edward S. Curtis (Smithsonian); The
Curtis Collection; Edward
S. Curtis Collection Karen Nakamura teaches anthropology at Yale, and writes a blog on Photoethnography. Her work focuses on disability in Japan, and provides some insight into the wide-ranging subject matter and value of this field. Drawing is an essential tool in archaeology, and I thought it would be helpful to provide a short list of people who have contributed extraordinary work to the field. Robert Powell
Linda Schele
Frederick Catherwood
This is a bit cute, but the information is valid: a YouTube shortie on drawing for underwater archaeology. Ethnographic studies are, like any human intellectual endeavor, subject to critical examination and controversy. The websites and books included in this section cover a variety of issues and should prove helpful when developing projects. The books noted will be held on reserve in the Library. Sights: Visual Anthropology Forum: this is linked above, under the "general" category, but many of the papers concern theoretical and ethical issues as well. Daniel Chandler is a philosopher of technology, and his essay on Technological or Media Determinism is indispensable to an understanding of how the very technologies we're discussing in this class affect the way we perceive both the world and other people. Connecting Art and Anthropology is a workshop devoted to answering the question, "What happens when artists and anthropologists are asked to do something together rather than talk from the safety of their own practice?" The essay linked on the main page is helpful. Thick Description is a term coined by anthropologist Clifford Geertz to describe an in-depth, historical, and contextual approach to studying culture. The link is to a scan of the chapter from his book The Interpretation of Cultures in which he discusses the concept. A summary of the idea is available here. Society for Visual Anthropology: Founded in 1984, the Society for Visual Anthropology promotes the use of images for the description, analysis, communication and interpretation of human [and sometimes nonhuman) behavior. Members have interests in all visual aspects of culture, including art, architecture and material artifacts, as well as kinesics, proxemics and related forms of body motion communication (e.g. gesture, emotion, dance, sign language). The Society encourages the use of media, including still photography, film, video and non-camera generated images, in the recording of ethnographic, archaeological and other anthropological genres. Members examine how aspects of culture can be pictorially/visually interpreted and expressed, and how images can be understood as artifacts of culture. Historical photographs, in particular, are seen as a source of ethnographic data, expanding our horizons beyond the reach of memory culture. The society also supports the study of indigenous media and their grounding in personal, social, cultural and ideological contexts, and how anthropological productions can be exhibited and used more effectively in classrooms, museums and television. (From the website) Journals Social Research Update is published by the Department of Sociology, University of Surrey (in England for the geographically challenged). It's a quarterly journal with myriad sources of advice on conducting social research, both in person and through other media--including the internet. Language is pretty straightforward and low on jargon. Links (in case I've missed anything) Links to Web sites of interest to Visual Anthropology University of Virginia. I’ve already linked some of the material here, but the site is reliable. The Ur List: Web Resources for Visual Anthropology. The list appears to be comprehensive and comes out of the University of Southern California, but it was last updated in 2001 and it’s really ugly. Still, the categories can help students sift through the morass of information available. Kelley
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