Visual Anthropology

This course explores the ways in which the visual conveys and broadens ethnographic investigation. In a discipline dominated by words we came to think in terms of 'culture as text' and ethnography as 'writing culture’. Challenging anthropology's 'iconophobia' the course proposes a different perspective focused on the role of vision and image in anthropological research. By looking at the ways of seeing in particular cultural and historical contexts we will discuss the visual both as technique of representation and mode of knowing. Visual anthropology is one of the fastest growing fields covering almost any manner of visual expression. This course will provide only a partial introduction focused mostly on photography and film. We will refer to the different ways of picturing cultures and the cultural interpretations of visual representations. Some of the central topics in visual anthropology related to the veracity of the visual record, objective camera vs. subjective voice in filmmaking, reflexivity, ethics and aesthetics in the process of representation will be addressed throughout the course.

The course starts with a definition of the field, followed by a closer look at classic portrayals of 'exotic people' and the role of photographic documentation in social anthropology. We will turn afterwards to film, discussing visual conventions in fiction and documentary, perspectives, narrative and editing styles in contemporary ethnographic film. Sessions evolve around these specific topics but in the same time they also illustrate different stages in the short history of ethnographic film. The last two sessions explore the theoretical and methodological potential of new media and cybercultures. This course is not a hands-on camera training and neither a film theory course; it is designed to balance practice and theory based on substantial visual and theoretical input and the creation of a visual project/photo-essay.