ANTHRO 402/602 and Film 454/641:
Visual Anthropology and Ethnographic FIlmmaking

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

Seminar:
Time: Tuesday-Thursday 2:30 - 3:45
Location: 10 Sachem Street Room 307 (note change from 204 Prospect; Room B-03)

Last offered: -Fall 2006
Next offered: Fall 2008 (now)

Quick Links:

• Classes V2 Server (class resources)
• CDigix Server (online film screenings)

Course Description

This is a course on visual anthropology, ethnographic filmmaking, and urban ethnographic field methods. It is primarily designed as a production class where you will make 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.

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
• Heider, Karl (2006) Ethnographic Film. Austin: University of Texas Press.
• Pink, Sarah (2001) Doing Visual Ethnography. London: Sage Press.

Equipment Requirements

All students are required to have their own cameras, lavalier mikes, and audio 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. The DMCA, Film Studies Program, and anthropology department has a limited amount of equipment available to students for these projects.

Equipment and 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 non-Anthropology graduate students: Video and digital image editing workstations are available at some of the ITS computer labs. Students from previous years also used machines at the computer lab in the Music Library which had Final Cut installed.

Graduate 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 10 Sachem. The Media Lab has iMac editing stations and MiniDV and AVCHD equipment for short-term rental.

Field Site Requirements

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).

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

Students must file for Human Subjects permission from the Yale Institutional Review Board.

Course Assignments and Final Project

Course Grade Distribution
Final project	50%
Mini Projects	30%
Fieldnotes	10%
Course Participation	10%

Year 2006 Projects and the 1st Biannual Heider Award

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