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: ANTH 499-077 Visual Anthropology
- Classroom: Saunders 204
- Days/Hours: Tuesday 5-7:45pm
- Instructor: Jean Dennison
- Office: Alumni 409c
- E-mail: jeand@email.unc.edu
- Office Hours: Tuesday 2-5 pm (or by appointment)
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 strategies that widen the possibilities of visual anthropology beyond its confines as a simple recording tool. 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. Because the voices of indigenous populations have historically been ignored in anthropology, particular attention will be given to indigenous issues. The class will also examine cross-cultural representations, colonial and post-colonial representations, as well as feminist and science studies approaches to ethnography. Finally, we will discuss the processes of production and the culture of social relations between media artists and community.
While this class does contain weekly readings, the central component of the class will be 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 below necessitates that everyone not only come to class, but 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 in advance 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.
Around the UNC campus there are several places to access equipment. The Beasley Multimedia Resource Center and The Media Resources Center both have still and video cameras available as well as computers with video and webpage design software. You are strongly encouraged to reserve the equipment from the MRC well ahead of time, but the Beasley center is on a first come first serve basis, so get there early. While the Beasley center is only open to students enrolled in classes registered with the center, such as ours, the Media Resource Center is open to all students, faculty and staff. During the semester the Beasley center will provide various training sessions including in Final Cut Pro for video editing and various software for webpage design. The MRC also offers online tutorials and one-on-one media lab classes in a wide range of visual media programs to fit your schedule. You are strongly encouraged to take advantage of these training opportunities. The Beasley center also has trained staff on hand during operating hours to answer additional questions.
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 late projects.
To edit video students will need:
- External Hard drive – mac platform ($25-800)
- 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
Honor Code: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has had a student-administered honor system and judicial system for over 100 years. The system is the responsibility of students and is regulated and governed by them, but faculty share the responsibility. If you have questions about your responsibility under the honor code, please bring them to your instructor or consult with the office of the Dean of Students or the Instrument of Student Judicial Governance at:http://honor.unc.edu. This document, adopted by the Chancellor, the Faculty Council, and the Student Congress, contains all policies and procedures pertaining to the student honor system. Your full participation and observance of the honor code is expected.
Plagiarism in the form of deliberate or reckless representation of another's words, thoughts, images or ideas as one's own without attribution in connection with submission of academic work, whether graded or otherwise. Plagiarism will not be tolorated in this class and will result in a failing grade for the class and suspension for one academic semester. Materials for class assignments should be produced specifically for this class unless prior approval from the professor is granted.
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, 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. Participating in activities not directly related to the class during class time (such as the use of personal technologies) will automatically result in a loss of participation points for the day.
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 thirty minutes that week. During this discussion, you should note your thoughts on the articles, articulate a reading of the assignment, and 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 an indication of the week you would like to present by week two.
Projects (800 points): Each assignment will be graded based both on 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 (9/1).
Autoethnography (25 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 (9/8).
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 the following week listing which project(s) you would like to participate in and whether or not you would like to work in a group. If you do not complete this final step you will not get credit for completing the assignment. – DUE WEEK 4 (9/15)
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 encountered 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 (9/22)
Anthropology in Cyberspace (25 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. You will need to illustrate your suggested changes visually. 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 so you may therefore use PhotoShop or other graphics programs to design the site. The site should include no more than 10 pages. – DUE WEEK 6 (9/29)
GROUP WORK BEGINS
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 one 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 (10/6)
Consent Form (50 points): Based on UNC IRB protocol, construct a draft IRB consent form. The template is located here, the full IRB process is outlined here, including further directions for the consent form. You will only need to complete the full application and submit it for univeristy review if you plan on showing your material publically. Because these are class projects you can also chose to get IRB approval after the semester, if you later decide to show this material publically. This assignment will serve as your final project proposal and the consent form should be used for all of the remaining assignments, although you may also get consent orally based on the material covered in the form. – DUE WEEK 8 (10/13)
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 (10/20)
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 (11/3)
Storyboard (50 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 12 (11/10)
Final Project: How Facts Travel in the World (250 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. 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 FINALS WEEK (12/17, 4pm)
Final Exam (150 points): Each undergraduate student must complete a final written exam. The exam will be essay based and will likely include questions about the class readings, film screenings, and your final project. Graduate students will complete a 10-15 page research paper on a topic approved by the professor during week seven. – DUE FINALS WEEK (12/17, 4pm Saunders 321)
There are two required books (The Future of Visual Anthropology by Sarah Pink and Experimental Ethnography by Catherine Russell) and one recommended book (Final Cut Pro Portable Genius). All of these books are available through the University bookstores. All other readings are provided below.
Readings are under 60 pages per week, 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.
Online 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 (8.25) - Introduction to Course
Pass out syllabus and introduce course. Fill out information sheet. Go around and introduce self. View Creek Runs Red (56 min) and discuss.
Weeks 2 (9.1) - Ways of Knowing
Assign discussion weeks. Present assignment. Discuss reading. Documenting Space slide show. View clips from Forest of Bliss and discuss.
Due: Email discussion ranking by Monday; Style
Readings for class: MacDougall, David (1998) Visual Anthropology and the Ways of knowing. In Transcultural Cinema. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Pp: 61-92.
Pink, Sarah (2006) Engaging the Visual: An Introduction. In The Future of Visual Anthropology. London: Routledge. Pp: 3-20.
Weeks 3 (9.8) - Autoethnography
Present assignment. Discuss reading (Shannon). Watch Sadie Benning's films and discuss.
Due: Autoethnography
Readings for class: Russell, Catherine (1999) Experimental Ethnography. Durham: Duke University Press. Pp: 275-313.
Weeks 4 (9.15) - Traveling Facts and Image Acts
Present project ideas. Discuss reading. Discussion of Informed Consent and Ethics.
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. Santa Fe, New Mexico: School of American Research Press. Pp. 83-102.
Bakewell, Liza (1998) Image Acts. American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 100, No. 1. (Mar., 1998), pp. 22-32.
Weeks 5 (9.22) - Representation and Engagement
Discuss reading (Nancy). Present assignments.
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.
Recommended: Pink, Sarah (2006) Visual Engagement as Social Intervention. In The Future of Visual Anthropology. London: Routledge. Pp: 79-102.
Week 6 (9.29) - Hypermedia
Persentation on the the Gardens of the East Village. Present assignment. Discuss reading (Pablo).
Due: Anthropology in Cyberspace
Readings for class: Pink, Sarah (2006) Visual Anthropology and hypermedia. In The Future of Visual Anthropology. London: Routledge. Pp: 103-128.
Recommended: Pink, Sarah (2006) Visual Anthropology and anthropological writing. In The Future of Visual Anthropology. London: Routledge. Pp: 59-79.
Weeks 7 (10.6) - Indigenous Media
Present assignment. Discuss reading. View clips from Perfumed Nightmare and How, We Are Present (15 min) and discuss. Short topic presentations by graduate students.
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.
Faris, James C. (1993) A Response to Terence Turner, Anthropology Today, Vol. 9, No.1. (Feb., 1993), pp. 12-13.
Recommended: Russell, Catherine (1999) Experimental Ethnography. Durham: Duke University Press. Pp: 98-115.
Week 8 (10.13) - The Documentary Image
Present assignment. Discuss reading (Elaine). View Reassemblage (40 min) and discuss.
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.
Recommended: Russell, Catherine (1999) Experimental Ethnography. Durham: Duke University Press. Pp: 157-190.
Weeks 9 (10.20) - Interviews
Present assignment. Discuss reading (Bruce) interview strategies.
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.
Weeks 10 (10.27) - Experimental Video
Discuss reading (Kathryn). View Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy 1989 (19 min) discuss. Discuss group's interview strategy and questions.
Readings for class: Russell, Catherine (1999) Experimental Ethnography. Durham: Duke University Press. Pp: 1-47.
Week 11 (11.3) - Telling a Story
Present assignment. Discuss reading (Ryely). Storyboard technique. View/map out Swallow (28 min). Group work on storyboard.
Due: Interviews
Readings for class: Begleiter, Marcie (2001) Text, Image, Diagram. In From Word to Image. California: Michael Wiese Productions. Pp: 54-77.
Recommended: Berger, John and Jean Mohr (1982) The Ambiguity of the Photograph. In Another Way of Telling. England: Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative. Pp 85-100.
Week 12 (11.10) - Editing
Present assignment. Discuss reading. Attend screening of Looking for Ms. Locklear (7pm Union Auditorium).
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.
Recommended: Dornfeld, Berry (1989) Chronicle of a Summer and the editing of cinéma-vérité. Visual Anthropology 2(3-4): 317-331.
Week 13 (11.17) - Visual Culture
Discuss progress on final project. Discuss reading (Ashley). View Ein Bild (25 min) and discuss.
Readings for class: Murray, Susan (2008) Digital Images, Photo-Sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics. Journal of Visual Culture. 7:147-163.
Recommended: Mirzoef, Nicholas (2006) Invisible Empire: Visual Culture, Embodied Spectacle, and Abu Ghraib. Radical History Review Spring 98. Pp 21-44.
Week 14 (11.24) - Working Day
Week 15 (12.1) - Display
Present clips. Discuss reading (Amanda). 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.
Recommended: Dennison, Jean (forthcoming) Our Heritage, Our Future: Archaeology and the Interessement of Desires.
Finals (12.17) - Final Presentations
Present assignment. Take Final Exam
Due: Final Project.
Public Screening – Date and Location to be set
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