Blog 3 Blurring Boundaries

The blurring boundaries section of class was an interesting and sometimes hard to grasp.  The films were valuable since they were not like anything viewed so far.  The films helped to see the problems with main ethnographic films and what some people were doing to get their view out there.  Even if some of the films were considered artsy, the message was still clearly there people just have to think about it.  The film Reassemblage was one of the harder films to watch, since it repeated the same sequences many times, but after reflecting upon the film, it made some sense about the way she edited the film and the choice of little narration.  The articles were a little confusing, but very informative on the films that we watched and the ways that some anthropologists think.  The reviews of The Forest of Bliss were useful in seeing the different ways that anthropologists view one another and the use of some artistic ways in ethnographic films. 

            Concerning The Forest of Bliss, and the articles associated with it, Chopra and Ostor seem to understand the film and their view of the film was one that seemed to go along the same lines as my thought.  The film was a good ethnographic film that people just have to think just a bit and try to interpret the film for themselves.  The film showed the importance of the river to the religion and how close the people of India are with their religion.  The film’s use of no subtitles was interesting, if a person does not know a thing about India, there are many inferences that can be found by watching this film if one just pays attention.   Making a film is hard enough as it is, and you cannot please everyone, some of the scenes in the film were hard to watch, like the dogs eating each other, or the bodies just floating in the river, but having those scenes in the film helps the viewer get a sense of what it would be like to travel there.  The film showed it like what a person would see if it was their first time being there and taking in all of the surroundings.  The film blurred boundaries in that it was different from all other ethnographic films in that, there was no narration or translation, which was a good way to structure this particular film since there is sometimes just quick little scenes, letting the film play out seems like a good way to let the story be told.   When the critics of The Forest of Bliss wrote their articles, some of their thought processes were out there.  Most of the authors just criticized Gardner’s reputation and did not pay any attention to the critiquing the film. 

            With the film by Trinh T. Minh-ha, confusion set in right away, while reading the articles and watching the film Reassemblage.  The film is choppy, some of the same lines and film sequences are repeated many times, there were times that awkward pauses would come before we hear a narrator, and there are some things that would seem like it is not in the right sequence.   The film was a bit confusing, but it makes a good point on ethnographic films.  The first time viewing the film, it felt like there was no method to the madness, until you look at the big picture. The film got into the issues with ethnographic films, like how the west takes natives and thinks of only women who are barely clothed and take the entire culture out of context.  Trinh T. Minh-ha makes a statement about anthropology, but there is a point when it is asked, did she really get her point across or was it just put together a little to haphazardly for anyone else to understand?  The article about the film was also a little tiring to read.  It took a long time to read and was very lengthy.  Moore did a better job at explaining Trinh T. Minh-ha’s film for me than the Chen and Minh-ha.  It also felt like Minh-ha was trying to let the people of Senegal tell their own story about their culture instead of having some “expert” says what they know to be happening.  The essay by Chalfen explained the role of a native filming their own culture rather than having an ethnographic film maker would make it.  The way a native would film can show a different view of the culture that the film maker would not have thought to put in.  It shows the way the culture views themselves instead of trying to put what the film maker thinks is important.  Almost like the movie In Her Own Time: The Final Fieldwork of Barbara Myerhoff, from the parts that we watched it showed her story through her eyes as she was diagnosed with cancer.  The film was revealing about Myerhoff and the way that films could be made. 
            This section of class had an interesting set of videos that seemed to be experimenting in the style and form of ethnography and challenge what it means to make an ethnographic film.  From Trinh T. Minh-ha’s Reassemblage, which challenged the way anthropologists think about the way they make films and how westerners think about other cultures other than themselves, to The Forest of Bliss, which had no translation, no music just the ambient noise in the background, and did not have a narrator telling the audience what was happening in the scene or explaining the significance of a certain ritual or symbol.  The articles within this section were also a little different from before, they seemed to be thick and challenging to read.  Overall, this section was very informative on the different styles that did and did not work out in ethnographic films and how writing ethnographic papers have progressed through the years. 

Anthropology Blog #2

Anthropology Blog #2

Representing a Culture in Anthropology

                There are many different aspects that go into the correct form of representing a culture.  One must think about how the people in study want to be represented and not allow the film to fall into visual imperialism.  The film must represent the entire culture, so the anthropologist must, like Tim Asch said, know the culture and shoot everything so that the film accurately represents them and does not coincide with anyone’s agenda.  There are many different forms of representation to consider.  One way is by the particular, which is how N!ai: Story of a K!ung Woman is filmed.  The film N!ai was very informative and shot very well.  People learn about the K!ung culture from comparing N!ai, who is not the average K!ung woman.  No matter what the film maker does, there is always going to be bias because the film maker is putting their point of view and what they want to show in to the movie. 

                People’s bias’ show through no matter what because there is so much footage to go through that there is a certain representation for other people to learn about.  A good example of this is the movie The Cannibal Tours the maker of the movie had an agenda and it is clear that he wants to make the white people seem ignorant and show how the indigenous people were exploited. Tim Asch makes good points in his article that the anthropologist must know their subjects and film whole events.  Nobody should be misrepresented and the people being filmed should be able to see the video afterwards to make sure they are being represented in the correct way.  Also, filming the people while they are watching it makes for a good scene to get reactions and is revealing.  Even in the parts of Chronique d’un Ete that we watched there was the directors’ opinion in it and the fact that the directors were in the film gets their point across even more. The personality of the film makers comes out in the film in what they choose to edit out and how they choose to present the information that they have found. Film makers have to be wary of what they choose to edit out because the audience, if they have not learned about the culture they are watching, will believe it as fact and gain prejudices

The problem with film is that if the audience believes that movie is truth and that the cultures will never change.  It is like the culture is stuck in time and can never leave, unless the culture is revisited and explored again by a different set of eyes like Nanook Revisited.  The film Nanook Revisited was an effective film since it showed how the native people reacted to the first film.  It gave a look into how things are done now compared to the first Nanook which was reenacted in parts.  It shows how the culture still keeps the traditions alive, but in a semi modern way.   

Anthropologists need to be aware of the fact that they can be ethnocentric in the way that they are going to present the film, but the film maker can be aware of how much of their point of view is in it.  Like Kuehnast suggests film makers have the power of Visual Imperialism.  Film makers can make people feel a certain way about a group of people and sway their decision if the message is conveyed correctly.  

There are many different situations to consider while making a film. One main problem in ethnographic films is to make sure the culture is represented correctly and to make sure that the film makers’ bias’ are not easily seen.  But that is impossible unless there is no narration and it is just a film that watches the people go about their business.  

blog post 1

    Blog Post #1
    Ethics are vital to any subject of study that research is done.  There have been many different scenarios that codes of ethics are vital for in visual anthropology.  The three articles that were read gave several guidelines to make sure any persons or animal subjects do not become exploited by the researcher on their quest for knowledge or the private or public sector that the anthropologist is working for.  The integrity of the person always comes first in any line of study whether it be genetic study or archaeology. 
    The Code of Ethics of the American Anthropological Association is a guideline for anthropologists so the persons or animals that they interact with during their studies do not get harmed or exploited in the pursuit for new knowledge.  The ethics code lays out advice so that all anthropologists can be on the same page on the standards of how people should be treated in relation to how important the research might seem to the researcher. The code of ethics is an effective tool for any anthropologist trying to make sure that the human or animal that they are studying is not misrepresented in any way shape or form, but it is always the anthropologists’ duty to assess the situation and maintain the subjects’ reputation the way that they want to be represented. The ethics code also deals with how teachers should represent the information and the responsibility to the people they are training or educating.  It is useful to have this section in a code of ethics because not only should the teacher be aware that there are moral and ethical lines that they should abide by, but the student or trainee should be alert to the different things that the mentor should and should not be imposing on them.  What is more important to have is the application section in the ethics code.  It shows a few situations that anthropologists should be aware of when anthropologists are dealing with employers and how to be aware of the hostilities that could arise for being an anthropologist. 
In the Visual Anthropology Review article, The State of Ethics In Visual Anthropology Sarah Perry and Jonathan S. Marion bring up important views of the visual ethics discussion meeting and how they have progressed.  Perry and Marion make a point to show that the ethics code in visual anthropology can be applied in other fields of anthropology.  In archaeology, even though the researchers use remains and the things that people throw away or just leave behind because it has no use for them, the researchers recreate the people that they are trying to study and either recreate them with a computer animation or by drawing and could exploit the descendants of the culture in study.  The ways the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and the Society for Visual Anthropology (SVA) have sorted out the problems in ethics of visual anthropology have been useful and the suggestions that Perry and Marion have made in the paper would be even more helpful.  Since there needs to be more information out on the ethics, Perry and Marion have suggested that there be on the AAA’s website they have the ethics code and links to any other discussion about the ethics code to find more information about it or if a researcher has a question about their subject of study they can ask other people and see what they can do.  It is beneficial for anthropologists to get together and further the progress of the science of humanities and fixing the wrongs that could happen so they will not happen.
The code of research ethics was created because people needed help with some of the problems they faced while doing their research and to aid the students who are just learning to do research in the field.  In the International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA) Code of Research Ethics and Guidelines has five general principles and ethical standards for a researcher to abide by so they will not endanger another human.  The principles are somewhat similar to The Code of Ethics by the American Anthropological Association.   A scientist needs to make sure the information is honest and that the people are represented honestly and fairly.  They also need to make sure that the people involved do not get harmed or will be harmed by what the researcher is doing.  Also, there must be informed consent and confidentiality that the person’s information will be held in secret unless they give the researcher the right to let it be public knowledge.  The IVSA’s Code of Research Ethics and Guidelines was similar to the Code of Ethics by the AAA, just a few differences in detail since it had to envelop a couple more subjects of study rather than just anthropology.
Some of the concerns that the film makers of the films we watched had were the unknown exploitation of the indigenous people in Margret Mead’s film.  In the documentary The Cannibal Tours, the director showed the exploitations, but all the while, he was exploiting their way of life and showed how poor some indigenous people are and the tourists lives by making them seem ignorant, oblivious, and not caring of how the indigenous people lived.  Even though the director of the documentary was trying to, and succeeding, on making a point, he made a point at the expense of the people he was filming.  The film was cut in a way that seemed to misrepresent both parties and it seemed like there was no viewing of the film by the people who were in it. 
Ethic codes are an important source for protecting humans and animals that scientists encounter while doing their studies and anthropology is no different.  It may be more important in anthropology since the whole community studies humans.  Scientists need to know the ethical boundaries that surround working with people or else harm or exploitation could arise from trying to gain as much knowledge as they can.  To an anthropologist the way a human or animal is treated should have more priority over what can be learned from the culture.  The anthropologist’s job is to make connections and make sure the way they are representing the culture they are studying is accurately portrayed. 

Anthropology listening exercise

     I was in Noyer right outside of the door where people exit out of the dining hall and a door down to my right and left to where people exit the building.  What I found out about doing this observation is that listening and trying to write down everything that you hear is harder than just writing down what you observe, especially if you are in a kind of crowded place.  It was all kind of overwhelming to write down what you heard, because when you would be focusing on what your writing you would sometimes miss a sound that was happening or there was a constant rumbling or a loud noise that distracts you from what you where writing.  It also felt a little weird doing the field notes, even though I know that it was for a class and that it would help me learn something from it, it just was a little odd, it makes me wonder how the other cultures feel about Anthropologist’s taking field notes about them.  Do they feel as weird as I did? Or do the Anthropologist’s feel as out of place as I did?  Or maybe to Anthropologist’s it is just learning their culture and remembering what they wrote.  I mean I know it is all out of curiosity that the Anthropologist goes and studies a culture, and I know that they want to make sure that they document everything so that they are representing the culture correctly, but I wonder if any Anthropologist has been studied the way that they study other cultures so that they know how the people will react or how they feel to being put under a microscope for viewing.
    What I mostly heard was the constant humming of the air conditioning, if no body was around, and the quiet songs of the radio that play throughout the hall.  I also heard the squeaky foot steps of people walking down the hall way since it was raining and the clicking of when the wheel chairs would turn and the humming of the electric wheel chairs and squeaky tires as the people turned a corner.  The one thing that was hard for me to do was to try and get the conversations, because it all just sounded like babbling when people would go down the hallway in groups, and there were quite a bit of people going in and out of the dining all and walking around Noyer because it was dinner time.  People where whistling and girls with flip flops would squeak their shoes and let the material bang against their foot making a loud noise.  Also, there was a ton of jangling keys banging against lanyards, people just let them bang against each other.  When people would exit the dining center, you could always hear the sound of metal on metal when they would push the door open to exit and you could hear the rustling of the bags that people held in their hands with the food in them.    

I tried to upload my pictures, but you could not read what was on them, so I tried to type them out there may have been a few things missing.

Field Notes:
Time: 6:15 PM
Date: 9/14/2011
Place: Noyer

“Give it all, hey try.”
“Hey. Whas up. Hello?”
Constant feet walking different speeds, high heels, softer when it’s tennis shoes, squeaky because its rainy.  6:17ish, guy: “hey you 2 whats up?”
Bags rustling; chains jingling, power chair stopping going, clicking
Automatic doors opening and closing.
Hearing mostly “Goodbyes” and “ see you later!”
Keys flipping around
6:20 squeaky shoes walking back and forth and back, “ I thought you didn’t do that anymore.”
Laughing.
“You use body language I use abrasiveness”
Bags rustling
Tapping of shoes, swooshing of jeans
Door slam and more squeaky shoes.
Constant humming of air conditioning
Squeaky automatic door opening and closing
Squeaky flip flops against the floor and banging against the person’s feet.
Chinese or Japanese, I can not understand.
More laughing
Door pushed in and slammed shut along with a ton of mindless babbling that I can not understand too many people
Swooshing of fabric
2 wheelchairs humming along at the same time and clicking.
Radio softly playing cant make out song but hear beats
Whistling