A Critical Review of Visual Anthropology

Arjang Omrani

doi:10.37467/revvisual.v13.3382

Authors

Arjang Omrani University of Ghent

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37467/revvisual.v13.3382

Keywords:

Visual Anthropology, representation, observational realism, anthropology vs ethnography, sensory turn, experimental cinema

Abstract

This article aims to develop a critical overview of visual anthropology by exploring the main obstacles and pivotal challenges throughout its evolution. It explores the ongoing representational and logocentric orientations of mainstream anthropology that have caused the rejection of acknowledging audio-visual anthropology as valid academic work. Furthermore, by singling out the ocular-centric and visual realist tendencies that exist in visual anthropology, it is argued that, to some extent, it validates those criticisms and even has its roots in those representational and logocentric orientations. Within this article, a position is taken besides those who consider the 'sub-discipline' of visual anthropology as a critical approach to mainstream (social or cultural) anthropological studies. The arguments lead to the conclusion, suggesting that by distinguishing between ethnography and anthropology (Ingold: 2014 & 2017) a more diverse, creative, and comprehensive idea of audio-visual (multimodal) anthropology is probable.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Alpers, S. (1983). The art of describing: Dutch art in the seventeenth century. Penguin.

Banks, M., & Ruby, J. (2011). Made to Be Seen. The University of the Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226036632.001.0001

Banks, M., & Zeitlyn, D. (2015). Visual Methods in Social Research. SAGE. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473921702

Boellstorff, T. (2008). Coming of age in Second Life: An anthropologist explores the virtually human. Princeton University Press.

Boellstorff, T. (2021). Ethnography in virtual worlds: A handbook of method. Princeton University Press

Carta, S. (2015). Visual and Experiential Knowledge in Observational Cinema.re from https://journals.openedition.org/anthrovision/1480 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/anthrovision.1480

Crawford, P. (2010). Sounds of Silence. The aural in anthropology and ethnographic film. In G. Iversen, & J. Simonsen (Eds.) Beyond the visual: Sound and Image in Ethnographic and Documentary Film. (pp. 22–49). Intervention Press.

Fabian, J. (1983). Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes Its Object. (1st ed). Columbia University Press.

Grimshaw, A., & Ravetz, A. (2005). Visualizing Anthropology: Experimenting with Image-Based Ethnography. University of Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv36xw2x9

Grimshaw, A., & Ravetz, A. (2009). Rethinking observational cinema. Journal Of The Royal Anthropological Institute, 15(3), 538-556. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2009.01573.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2009.01573.x

Hastrup, K., (1992). Anthropological visions: some notes on visual and textual authority. In P.I. Crawford & D. Turton (Eds.) Film as ethnography. University Press.

Henely, P., (2006). Putting Film to Work: Observational Cinema as Practical Ethnography. In S. Pink, L. Kurti, & A. Afonso (Eds.), Working Images: Visual Research and Representation in Ethnography. Routledge.

Howes, D. (2010). Sensual relations. Univ. of Michigan Press.

Ingold, T. (2000). The perception of the environment: Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill. Routledge.

Ingold, T. (2014). That’s enough about ethnography!. HAU: Journal Of Ethnographic Theory, 4(1), 383-395. doi: 10.14318/hau4.1.021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.14318/hau4.1.021

Ingold, T. (2017). Anthropology contra ethnography. HAU: Journal Of Ethnographic Theory, 7(1), 21-26. doi: 10.14318/hau7.1.005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.14318/hau7.1.005

Jackson, M. (2013). Lifeworlds: Essays in Existential Anthropology. The University of Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226923666.001.0001

Loizos, P. (1997). First Exits from Observational Realism: Narrative Experiments in Recent Ethnographic Films. In H. Morphy, & M. Banks (Eds.) Rethinking Visual Anthropology (pp. 81-104) Yale University Press.

MacDougall, D. (1995). Beyond Observational Cinema. In P. Hockings. (Ed.) Principles of Visual Anthropology. (pp. 116-132). Mouton de Gruyter. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110290691.115

MacDougall, D. (2006). The corporeal image. Princeton University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400831562

Marcus, G. (1990). The Modernist Sensibility in Recent Ethnographic Writing and the Cinematic Metaphor of Montage. Society For Visual Anthropology Review, 6(1), 2-12. doi: 10.1525/var.1990.6.1.2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/var.1990.6.1.2

Marks, L. (2000). The Skin of the Film: Intercultural Cinema, Embodiment, and the Senses. Duke University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1198x4c

Mitchell Thomas W.J. (1994). Picture Theory: Essays on Verbal and Visual Representation. The University of Chicago Press.

Mitchell Thomas W.J. (2005). Image Science: Iconology, Visual Culture, and Media Aesthetics. The University of Chicago Press.

Pink, S. (2006). The future of visual anthropology: Engaging the senses. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203003596

Ruby, J. (1975). Is an Ethnographic Film a Filmic Ethnography?. Studies In The Anthropology Of Visual Communications, 2(2), 104-111. doi: 10.1525/var.1975.2.2.104 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/var.1975.2.2.104

Ruby, J. (2008). Towards an anthropological cinema. Retrieved 31 March 2021, from http://www.philbu.net/media-anthropology/ruby_anthrocinema.pdf

Stoller, P. (1997). Sensuous scholarship. University of Pennsylvania Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812203134

Suhr, C., & Willerslev, R. (2012). Can Film Show the Invisible?: The Work of Montage. in Ethnographic Filmmaking. Current Anthropology, 53(3), 282-301. doi: 10.1086/664920 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/664920

Taylor, L. (1996). Iconophobia. Transition, 69, 64. doi: 10.2307/2935240 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2935240

Wright, C. (1998). The Third Subject: Perspectives on Visual Anthropology. Anthropology Today, 14(4), 16-22. doi: 10.2307/2783352 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2783352

Wright, C., & Cox, R., (2012). Blurred Visions: Reflecting Visual Anthropology. In R. Fardon, & J. Gledhill. (Eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Social Anthropology (Vol. 2, pp. 116-129). Sage Publications