As part of my ethnography I follow this shaping process, examining how facts travel in the world, but also how they never travel alone. Instead they are always packaged in the form of stories, explanations, and experiences, as authorized or unauthorized accounts, and they necessarily include definitions of human nature. -Joseph Dumit A Digital Image of the Category of the Person
- Course: ANT 3390 Spring 2008
- Classroom: CBD 0316 (subject to change)
- Days/Hours: Wednesday 1:55 - 4:55 pm
- Instructor: Jean Dennison
- Office:
- E-mail: jmdia@ufl.edu
- Office Hours: Wednesday 5-8 pm
This course focuses on visual forms of communication by analyzing and questioning how facts travel in the world through old and new media such as film, video, photography, and computer technology. Students are introduced to the history of ethnographic film and contemporary changes that have widened the possibilities of visual anthropology beyond its early confines as a tool for illustration. Critical theory, methods, and ethical concerns are all part of the current refashioning of visual anthropology and as such will be critical components of the class. Our central goal will be to move away from concepts of objectivity or subjectivity toward the use of deeply situated spaces to investigate the making of reality. Voices of indigenous populations have historically been ignored in anthropology, therefore, particular attention will be given to issues of cross-cultural representation and colonial and post-colonial representations, as well as feminist and science studies approaches to ethnography. Finally, the culture of social relations between media artists and community, and the processes of production will be discussed.
While the class does contain weekly readings, the central component of the class will be the eleven visual projects. Rather than approaching visual anthropology with its usual divide between ‘anthropological content’ and ‘aesthetic composition’ this class will attempt to foster both, pushing an artistic eye toward newly unfolding anthropological concerns. Experimentation and creativity will be highly valued within this setting.
Upon completion of the course, students should be able to: 1) use visual forms of communication to tell stories about how facts travel in the world, 2) creatively and artistically explore issues of anthropological concern, 3) explain a variety of theoretical approaches to the visual, 4) comprehend and compare the process of constructing media representations, and 5) explain the ways in which knowledge never exists independent of inequalities.
This will be a challenging and time consuming seminar class. Make sure you consider this when making your final class decisions for the semester. Be prepared to devote the time necessary to both projects and to class reading each week. With some of the assignments you will need to plan ahead in order to get the project adequately completed on time. To do well in the course you will need to have some background in photography and/or art, however you do not need to have a background in video production. We will work in teams, so you must be willing to develop team skills to do well.
Because this is a hands-on and discussion-oriented class, attendance is critical. The format of the class outlined above necessitates that everyone not only come to class, but also come having read the material and done the assignment for the day. Credit for participation cannot be made up. If you cannot attend class you must talk to me before the class begins. Because we only meet once a week, more than one absence without a written excuse will affect your grade. All assignments are known well in advance; therefore, opportunities for make-up work or permission to hand in an assignment late are only granted for exceptional circumstances. If you feel that your situation is such, contact me before your assignment is due and provide me with a written medical excuse.
You will need to have access to a 35mm or digital camera for this course. Also, if your group elects to do video, you will need to have a digital video camera (mini dv) and an external hard drive. Since their are no textbook costs for the class, you should use this money if you need to purchase equipment.
The anthropology department does has 4 video cameras for student use, if your group needs to rent a camera for part or all of the semester please contact me. There is Final Cut Pro editing software and webpage design software available in the Architecture lab (120) and other labs around campus. I will conduct Final Cut Pro tutorials during the semester(click here for the FCP tutorial PDF). Further questions on video editing should, if at all possible, be dealt with during my office hours. Before going in to use the lab, check the online schedule. Any times not listed are open for student use. Of course, students are also welcome to edit/design their projects at home with their own or free editing software.
Technology problems are very common with video editing, so please do not wait until the last minute to attempt to edit your video. Problems with technology will not be accepted as an excuse for a late video.
To edit video students will need (remember you had no textbook costs for this class):
- External Hard drive – mac platform; firewire interface ($75-800)
- Mini-dv tapes ($5-10 a piece)
- DVD-R discs for saving final project ($3-20 depending on # of discs)
- A great deal of patients and time
Participation (200 points):
One half of the grade for participation (100 points of your total 1,000 points for the class) will be based on your leading a particular class discussion. The other half (100 points) will reflect your participation in classes where you are not the leader. If you do not attend class, then you cannot participate. Therefore, attendance is required. See policy on attendance above. Further, there is no way to make an A in the class if you do not come to class with a solid understanding of the reading and participate in class each week.
Leading class discussion: Each week one student will be assigned to lead class discussion. When it is your turn, you will be required to lead class discussion for about forty minutes that week. During this discussion, you should note your thoughts on the articles, articulate a reading of the assignment, and you should craft a list of discussion questions. Make a copy of these discussion questions for each student in the seminar.
On your assigned day of class, you will start by asking a series of probing and provocative questions about the assigned book and/or articles. You may set up these questions by making a few brief comments on your interpretation of the text or by citing particular passages of the text that were interesting to you. Then, you will begin to lead the class in a discussion of the answers to these questions. As we all work through your questions as well as others that come up in the context of the discussion, we will articulate our own reading(s) of the materials. You will need to email the instructor by week two which week you would like to present.
Projects (800 points): Each assignment will be graded based on both its creativity and its content.
Style (25 points): Go to the art/architecture library or look online and find a photographer whose style is interesting to you. Pay special attention to how they frame their shots and what sort of equipment they use. Bring in 5 of their images that illustrate this style and present the photographer to the class. – DUE WEEK 2 (1/16).
Autobiography (50 points): Study your personal space and document the ways in which that physical environment visually symbolizes who you are. Photograph that environment and construct a photo essay exhibit or web page (with no more than 10 images) that represents that understanding. Pay special attention to how the images are sequenced to tell a story. – DUE WEEK 3 (1/23).
Final project idea (25 points): Research and type up one well thought-out idea for the final project. Highlight why the topic is important and why a visual medium would be useful. You will present your ideas in class and take notes of the other presentations. Email me within the week and list your top three choices for projects to work on this semester. If you do not complete this final step you will not get credit for completing the assignment. – DUE WEEK 4 (1/30)
Representing “The Other” (50 points): Find an individual whose social or cultural practices are different than your own. With permission capture a day-in-the-life of that person. The visuals should reveal activities as well as say something about the social/cultural life of the individual as well as capture personality. This project may be presented in either photos or video with no more than 10 images or 2 minutes video (if you have prior video editing experience). Be prepared to discuss the problems you ran into and future solutions in class. Framing is important to this exercise. Incorporate a variety of shots to add depth and understanding to your visuals. – DUE WEEK 5 (2/6)
Anthropology in Cyberspace (50 points): Choose one of the two exercises described below. 1) Critique an existing website designed to develop social or cultural consciousness. Include in your critique suggestions for improvement. You should be able to link to the site in class and then combine your critique with the links. Visual creativity is expected in your presentation. 2) Choose an anthropological topic and design a web site for its content. The site does not have to be functional in terms of links therefore you can use PhotoShop or other graphics programs to design the site. The site should include no more than 10 pages. – DUE WEEK 6 (2/13)
THE REST OF THE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE DONE IN GROUPS
Autobiographical/Indigenous Ethnography (50 points): Ask one or more of the informants of your final project to take photographs that reveal something about your project’s central issue or problem. As a group write a (no more than 1 page) analysis of the pictures and what you have learned from the exercise. In class display up to 15 of the photographs. – DUE WEEK 7 (2/20)
Consent Form and Draft of IRB (50 points): Construct a consent form suitable for use with your group project. Visit the following web site, view several IRB formats, and construct first draft of IRB form, which will be submitted to the research committee for approval. Follow the link http://irb.ufl.edu/irb02/index.html to find links for copies of the UFIRB forms and sample Informed Consent documents. An additional example from my dissertation research can also be viewed here. This assignment will also serve as your final project proposal. – DUE WEEK 8 (2/27)
Interaction (50 points): Anthropologists focus on social and cultural behavior. As part of your final project find an interaction that reveals cultural worldviews or ideologies within the area you are investigating for your final project and capture an exchange that reflects these interactions. The project should be no longer than three minutes or fifteen images. – DUE WEEK 9 (3/5)
Interviews (50 point): Using the techniques discussed in class conduct three interviews that will be used in your final project, either as background research or as footage. Be ready to show clips of the video and discuss what worked and did not work with the interviews in class. – DUE WEEK 11 (3/19)
Storyboard (100 points): Create a series of diagrams to depict the composition of your final video or website project. Each diagram should consist of: a sketch of the video or webpage image; a brief description of the visuals; notes for the camera operator; the details of the desired audio that will accompany the visual; and an estimate of how long the segment will be. The storyboard cards should then be placed in order to provide a foundation for capturing the proper footage/photographs and for making the correct editing/web-design decisions.– DUE WEEK 13 (4/2)
Final Project: How Facts Travel in the World (300 points): The final project can be a video, or web based presentation. Choose a social issue about which visuals will be able to advance anthropological theory and/or critique a social phenomenon. Video projects should be designed to be 12-15 minutes long. If the final project is a web project, it should have between 10-20 interactive pages. Each project will also include an essay of 3-5 pages from each group member, which describes the anthropological concept, or issue that is the focus of the project, the working conditions of your group, the research methods incorporated, and a guide for viewing the project. These projects will be presented at the end of the semester, first to the class and then to an open audience. Groups will have a total of 20 minutes to set up and present their project. This time limit includes a 5-minute Q & A section. – DUE WEEK 16 (4/23)
All class readings can be found on the course webpage below. Readings are rarely over 20 pages, but will often be challenging. You should plan to read each week’s reading at least twice: once before you complete that week’s assignment and once right before class. Your grade will suffer if you do not incorporate these materials into your projects (where appropriate) or if you cannot discuss this material articulately in class each week.These materials are made available for the educational purposes of students in Jean Dennison's Visual Anthropology class. No further reproduction, transmission, or electronic distribution of this material is permitted.
All DATES ARE TENTATIVE
Week 1 (1.9) - Introduction to Course
Pass out syllabus and introduce course. Fill out information sheet. Go around and introduce self. View www.storyofstuff.com (20 min) and discuss.
Weeks 2 (1.16) - Ways of Knowing
Assign discussion weeks. Present assignment. Discuss reading. Documenting Space slide show. View clips from Forest of Bliss and discuss.
Due: Style
Readings for class: MacDougall, David (1998) Visual Anthropology and the Ways of knowing. In Transcultural Cinema. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Weeks 3 (1.23) - Image Acts
Present assignment. Discuss reading. Discuss final projects possibilities.
Due: Autobiography
Readings for class: Bakewell, Liza (1998) Image Acts. American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 100, No. 1. (Mar., 1998), pp. 22-32. (Marcos)
Lutz and Collins (1993) The Color of Sex: Postwar Photographic Histories of Race and Gender in National Geographic Magazine. Pp: 291-203. (Sarah)
Weeks 4 (1.30) - Objective-Self Fashioning
Present assignment. Discuss reading. Introduction to video/audio equipment and technique.
Due: Final project ideas
Readings for class: Handout on Video Technique
Dumit, Joseph (1997) A Digital Image of the Category of the Person: PET scanning and Objective Self-Fashioning. In Cyborg and Citadels: Anthropological Interventions in Emerging Sciences and Technologies. Gary Lee Downey and Joseph Dumit, eds. Pp. 83-102. Santa Fe, New Mexico: School of American Research Press. (David)
Weeks 5 (2.6) - Relativism and Representation
Present assignment. Discuss reading. View Turlington Project and discuss.
Due: Email project ranking by Monday, Representing “The Other”
Readings for class: Abu-Lughod, Lila (2002) Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? American Anthropologist 104(3): 783-790. (Marjorie)
Week 6 (2.13) - Hypermedia
Present assignment. Discuss reading. Talk about informed consent. Give group assignments, meet in groups to start brainstorming.
Due: Anthropology in Cyberspace
Readings for class: Pink, Sarah (2004) Making links: on situating a new web site. Cambridge Journal of Education. (Christian)
Weeks 7 (2.20) - Indigenous Media
Present assignment. Discuss reading. View We are Equal (Chiapas Media project (18 min) and How, We Are Present (15 min) and discuss. Group work to form interview questions.
Due: Autobiographical/Indigenous Ethnography
Readings for class: Turner, Terence (1992) Defiant Images: The Kayapo Appropriation of Video. Anthropology Today. Vol. 8, No. 6 (Dec., 1992), pp. 5-16. (Lindsay)
Faris, James C. (1993) A Response to Terence Turner, Anthropology Today, Vol. 9, No.1. (Feb., 1993), pp. 12-13. (Lindsay)
Week 8 (2.27) - The Documentary Image
Present assignment. Discuss reading. Introduction to editing equipment.
Due: Consent Form and Draft of IRB
Readings for class: Handout on editing
Starrett, Gregory (2003) Violence and the Rhetoric of Images. Cultural Anthropology 18(3):398-428. (Kevin)
Weeks 9 (3.5) - The Interview
Present assignment. Discuss reading. View Adio kerida 2002 (58 min) and discuss. Interview strategy.
Due: Interaction
Readings for class: Handouts on Interviews
Barbash, Ilisa and Lucien Taylor (1997) Interviews. In Cross-Cultural Filmmaking. Berkeley: University of California Press Pp: 341-357. (Alex)
Week 10 (3.12) - No Class Spring Break
Weeks 11 (3.19) - Experimental Video
Present assignment. Discuss reading. View View City of Murals 2002 (15 min) and Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy 1989 (19 min) discuss.
Due: Interviews
Readings for class: Jay, Martin (1991) The Disenchantment of the Eye. Visual Anthropology Review 7(1): 15-38. (Shaina)
Week 12 (3.26) - Telling a Story
Discuss reading. Storyboard technique. View/map out Life and Debt (86 min). Group work on storyboard.
Readings for class: Berger, Jown and Jean Mohr (1982) The Ambiguity of the Photograph. In Another Way of Telling. England: Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative. Pp 85-100. (Naomi)
For groups doing a video: Video Storyboarding
For groups doing a website: Web Storyboarding
Week 13 (4.2) - Editing I
Present assignment. Discuss reading. View Surname Viet Given Name Nam (108) and discuss.
Due: Story Board
Readings for class: Chen, Nancy (1992) Speaking Nearby. A Conversation with Trinh T. Minh-Ha. Visual Anthropology Review/ 8(1): 82-91. (Laura)
Week 14 (4.9) - Editing II
Discuss progress on final project. Discuss reading. View Immokalee U.S.A. and discuss with filmmaker Georg Koszulinski.
Readings for class: Dornfeld, Berry (1989) Chronicle of a Summer and the editing of cinéma-vérité. Visual Anthropology 2(3-4): 317-331. (Allicia)
Week 15 (4.16) - Display
Present clips. Discuss reading. View Cannibal Tours 1988 (70 min) and discuss.
Due: Rough draft of final project
Readings for class: Hinsley, Curtis M (1991) The World as Marketplace: Commodification of the Exotic at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago 1893. In Exhibiting Cultures. Ivan Karp and Steven D. Lavine, eds. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. (Ellie)
Week 16 (4.23) - Final Presentations
Present assignment.
Public Screening – Date and Location to be set
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