Keywords

Visual Ethnography, narrative, innovation

Objectives

In recent years, international academic exchanges focused on ethnographic film festivals but also subsuming media art and the film industry have flourished worldwide, giving birth to new currents of theoretical debate in anthropology. The goal of this project is, by examining the intersections of anthropology, film and art seen in these international movements, to expand the horizons of creative expression as a record and representation of culture, both theoretically and practically. This research will analyze the research trends that distinguish schools of visual anthropology and will examine from a methodological perspective the potential of anthropological citation in art and film. Members of this joint research project will produce ethnographic films, report on musical and photographic installations, create a new narrative for visual ethnography through their discussion, and develop proposals concerning the academic potential of this type of research for anthropology and neighboring fields.

Research Results

In this joint research project, each member delivered multiple presentations on visual ethnography or installation art and held discussions on the theories and practices of production methodologies as well as audiovisual approaches to anthropological knowledge, in accordance with each member's objective and awareness of issues. From time to time, we invited artists and art curators as special lecturers to exchange views on audiovisual expressions in the domains of arts and films that might be anthropologically usable. With the joint research project members leading the effort, we implemented the following projects in an international conference and in academic journals.
First, we implemented a film showing program entitled “New Horizon of Anthropological Films from Japan” at the JASCA 50th Anniversary Conference (IUAES Inter-Congress 2014) at Makuhari Messe in May 2014, where we held discussions with visual anthropologists from many nations on the production methods and applications of ethnographic films. The discussions covered such topics as the types of verbal communication of information in a film (narration or subtitle); how to show a researcher's performance (manner and behavior; interaction with subjects, including conversation); and ways to utilize films from the perspective of preservation of records of intangible cultures for future generations.
Second, special features of papers authored by researchers participating in this joint research project were published in Issue 3 of The Annual Review of Cultural Studies, the official journal of the Association for Cultural Typhoon (published in June 2014), and Issue 1, Volume 80 of Cultural Anthropology, the official journal of the Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology (published in June 2015). In those two special features, individual cases of ethnographic film production and publication were discussed in light of the significance of each researcher's work. Discussions on visual ethnography tended to take for granted the presence and role of the audience. In contrast, the aforementioned special features in the academic journals took into consideration changes in the relationships between researchers and people as subjects of a study, which might arise from discussions on film production and publication, and the new connections with society created by the film presentation. By positioning the films as an integral part of the creative process involving the subjects and the audience of the films, the special features discussed the possibility of incorporating film production and publication in anthropological studies.