Subject Librarian
Lucinda M. Hall
Contact:
Evans Map Room, Baker-Berry Library
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 646-0962
Website Skype Contact: d1128r8@kiewit.dartmouth.edu
Course description
Ethnographic film crosses the boundaries of academic anthropology and popular media. This course will address the construction of meaning in ethnographic films in relation to the parallel concerns of anthropology. We will consider approaches to film style, the relation of visual media to ethnographic representation, and the challenges visual forms poses to written ethnographies. The class will appeal to anthropology and film students as well as students interested in the politics of cross-cultural representation.
[Source: ORC/Catalog, 12/15/2023]; Dist:INT or SOC; WCult:NW
In the Library's collections
To find books and other resources about ethnographic films, use the subject heading below. Use this same search to find actual ethnographic films located in the Jones Media Center. Other related subject headings are listed below.
Introductory reading(s)
American ethnographic film and personal documentary: the Cambridge turn by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780520275621American Ethnographic Film and Personal Documentary is a critical history of American filmmakers crucial to the development of ethnographic film and personal documentary. The Boston and Cambridge area is notable for nurturing these approaches to documentary film via institutions such as the MIT Film Section and the Film Study Center, the Carpenter Center and the Visual and Environmental Studies Department at Harvard. ...
Beyond observation: a history of authorship in ethnographic film by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781526147295A history of ethnographic film from the birth of cinema in 1895 until 2015 that analyses a large number of films made in a broad range of styles, on a broad range of topics and in many different parts of the world. For the period before the Second World War, it considers films made in reportage, exotic melodrama and travelogue genres as well as more conventionally ethnographic films made for academic and state-funded purposes. It then describes how after the war, ethnographic film-makers developed various different modes of authorship inspired by the ideas of Jean Rouch, Robert Gardner and Colin Young. ...
Film as cultural artifact: religious criticism of world cinema by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781506421698Film is popularly described as a mirror of culture. It plays a pivotal role in facilitating intercultural dialogue in our global village. World cinema helps us understand and appreciate each others cultural identity, and promotes harmony across different cultures in our pluralistic society. It introduces us to the life of the other in an entertaining yet engaging fashion, creating cultural bridges that foster a sense of unity in the midst of our diversity. This book argues that cultural anthropology and theology offer two distinct, yet intrinsically connected theoretical frameworks to formulate a more holistic reading of religion from world cinema. ...
Film festivals and anthropology by Call Number: Baker-Berry GN 347 .F56 2017ISBN: 9781443816830This collection explores the intersections between anthropology and film festival studies. Film and anthropology scholars map ethnographic film festivals and ethnographic approaches to festivals worldwide. The book provides a historical reconstruction of most of the main festivals exhibiting ethnographic film, considering the parallel evolution of programming and organisational practices across the globe. It also addresses the great value and challenges of ethnographic research tools for studying the wide-ranging field of film festivals. This volume is the first to collect long-term experiences of curating and exhibiting ethnographic film, as well as new approaches to the understanding of film festival practices. ...
Return to the land of the head hunters: Edward S. Curtis, the Kwakwạkạ'wakw, and the making of modern cinema by Call Number: Baker-Berry GN 347 .R47 2014ISBN: 9780295993447Photographer Edward Curtis's 1914 orchestrally scored melodrama In the Land of the Head Hunters was one of the first US films to feature an Indigenous cast. This landmark of early silent cinema was an intercultural product of Curtis's collaboration with the Kwakwạkạ'wakw of British Columbia meant, like Curtis's photographs, to document a supposedly vanishing race. But as this collection shows, the epic film is not simply an artifact of colonialist nostalgia. In recognition of the film's centennial, and the release of a restored version, Return to the Land of the Head Hunters brings together leading anthropologists, Native American authorities, artists, musicians, literary scholars, and film historians to reassess the film and its legacy. ...
Selected book title(s)
Doing anthropology in wartime and war zones: World War I and the cultural sciences in Europe by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9783837614220World War I marks a well-known turning point in anthropology, and this volume is the first to examine the variety of forms it took in Europe. Distinct national traditions emerged and institutes were founded, partly due to collaborations with the military. Researchers in the cultural sciences used war zones to gain access to informants: prisoner-of-war and refugee camps, occupied territories, even the front lines. Anthropologists tailored their inquiries to aid the war effort, contributed to interpretations of the war as a struggle between races, and assessed the warlike nature of the Balkan region, whose crises were key to the outbreak of the Great War.
Made to be seen: perspectives on the history of visual anthropology by Call Number: Baker-Berry GN 347 .M33 2011ISBN: 9780226036625Made to be Seen brings together leading scholars of visual anthropology to examine the historical development of this multifaceted and growing field. Expanding the definition of visual anthropology beyond more limited notions, the contributors to Made to be Seen reflect on the role of the visual in all areas of life. Different essays critically examine a range of topics: art, dress and body adornment, photography, the built environment, digital forms of visual anthropology, indigenous media, the body as a cultural phenomenon, the relationship between experimental and ethnographic film, and more. ...
Visual criminology by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781529207446From fine art to popular digital culture, criminologists are increasingly engaged in the processes of the visual. In this pioneering work, Bill McClanahan provides a concise and lively overview of the origins and contemporary role of visual criminology. Detailing and employing the most prominent approaches at work in visual criminology, this book explores the visual perspective in relation to prisons, police, the environment, and drugs, while noting the complex social and ethical implications embedded in visual research. ...
Other library resource(s)
Anthropological documentaries from Digitalia Film Library by Call Number: Streaming videoA small collection of anthropological documentaries from around the world.
Ethnographic film from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Call Number: Electronic resourceISBN: 9780199791286The relationship between visual media and anthropology has a long history growing out of the imperializing impulses of the 19th century, and anthropologists—as well as others such as cultural explorers, scientists, geographers, journalists, and travel writers—have long used forms of visual media to document their impressions of and perspectives about what we might call the cultural “Other”: cultures that have seemed different, exotic, or fascinating to us.
Ethnographic video online: volumes 1 & 2 by Call Number: Streaming videoEthnographic Video Online is a comprehensive online resource for the study of human culture, behavior and society around the world. The collections contain over 1,300 hours of streaming video, including ethnographic films, documentaries, select feature films, and previously unpublished fieldwork.- Ethnographic video online: volume 3: Indigenous voices by Call Number: Streaming videoThe role of the traditional ethnographer is changing as the perspectives and epistemologies of Indigenous peoples have taken on central significance in the discipline, challenging earlier representations and implicit “us versus them” constructs. In order to create a platform for indigenous voices to address issues from indigenous perspectives, they have dedicated the third volume of the ethnographic film series to Indigenous filmmakers.
Finding scholarly articles & journal title(s)
Articles and other writings about film can be found in many publications. Our collection includes at least one journal title which looks at ethnographic films. You can use Film & Television Literature Index, or Academic Search Complete to find articles or use the search box at the top of the page.
Visual anthropology review by Call Number: Electronic journalVisual Anthropology Review presents research on visual studies, broadly conceived. Within its scope, the journal encompasses both the study of visual aspects of human behavior and the use of visual media in anthropological research, representation and teaching.
Visual ethnography by Call Number: Electronic journalThe topics of Visual Ethnography cross visual anthropology, anthropology of media, digital and visual cultures, museography, contemporary art, photography, film studies, cultural studies, anthropology of the senses, anthropological theory.
AnthroSource by Call Number: Electronic resourceAnthroSource is a service of the American Anthropological Association that offers members and subscribing libraries full-text anthropological resources from the breadth and depth of the discipline. ...
Film & television literature index by Call Number: Electronic resourceCovers over 300 journal and magazine titles for film and television reviews, scholarly and critical analysis of cinema and television, and articles of popular interest about film and television.
Academic search complete by Call Number: Electronic resourceA scholarly, interdisciplinary article index and a good starting place for article searching on any subject.
Web of science citation databases by Call Number: Electronic resourceThe online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.
A short, selected list of ethnographic films in our collections
Find more ethnographic films in the library's collections.
Made in Trenchtown by Call Number: Streaming videoThis film was the result of a collaboration between the filmmaker and three young teenagers from Trenchtown - a ghetto in Kingston, Jamaica controlled by drug lords. As Philomena, Diamond and Stephan hold the camera, we get to know their friends, family, talents and dreams for their future. The collaboration allows us to get to know the teenagers on their own terms, while the reflexive nature of the film shows us the political reality of the area.
Read me: biographical explorations in the land of poets and thinkers by Call Number: Streaming videoEstu Wardhani is a young Javanese man and has struggled for most of his life to achieve a sense of competency and inclusion in his familial and social world. The second youngest of eight children born to an upper-class family living in the rural region of Gunung Kidul in Cental Java, Estu has been 'different' ever since he was a young boy. Estu's actions, and their disorienting power, cannot be understood outside of the cultural and social context within which they have taken shape nor can they be considered apart from the disruptive and painful effects they have on his family.
We don't need a grave by Call Number: Streaming videoThe film attempts to show how the people who choose shizenso rather than typical family grave try to accept one’s death. Shizenso means a natural mortuary practice that has no religious affiliation. It scatters cremation ashes of the deceased in the ocean and mountains. ...
Citing and Tracking Your Bibliographic References
Use this guide to help you learn how to correctly cite and keep track of the references you find for your research.
Keeping up with Film Studies journal literature
Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Film Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's, you can download and read the articles you want from the journals for which we have subscriptions.
You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.
Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's also available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.