Office hours: After class and by appointment
924-6821
ds8s@virginia.edu
(email is the best way to get in touch with me.)

Readings: (Spring 2005 readings)

• Jame Agee and Walker Evans, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (LUN)
  
• Excerpts from Elizabeth Edwards, Anthropology and Photography (AP)
        (The book is out of print, however I have posted on the toolkit : the relevant papers)
• Carl Fleischhauer et al, Documenting America, 1935-1943 (DA)
  
• Catherine Lotz and June Collins, Reading National Geographic (RNG)
  
• David MacDougall, Transcultural Cinema (TC)
  
• Jay Ruby, Picturing Culture (PC)
• Michael Young, Malinowski's Kiriwina

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Extra - for those of you who are theoretically inclined. It is primarily about film: A copy is on reserve:  Lucien Taylor, Visualizing Theory

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This course is divided into three major topics: The use of photography in the early days of the discipline, and the use of film and video in Anthropology and the American documentary tradition in photography.

Teams

This is not a lecture class in the full sense of the word. Students will, as we go along, be presenting class reports. There will be four teams with a maximum of four students on each. Each team will be responsible for leading discussions on selected items.

The readings are divided following the three topics.  Excerpts from the Edwards collection and Young go with the initial section of the course, where we examine photography in the early days of Ethnography. The MacDougall and Ruby go with ethnographic film and the Agee and Evans and Fleischhauer, et.al. go with the documentary photography. You are responsible for all of the reading - some of which, but not all, will be covered in class.

There will be three take home quizzes and a paper -  The quizzes will match the three topics. The paper can be on any topic dealt with in the course. Think of 10-15 pages in length for the paper. The first quiz will be on February 8th, the second March 31 and the third at the time of the scheduled final (Saturday, May 14) or earlier. The paper will be due the last week of April, but will be accepted earlier. If you get me a draft of the paper three weeks before the due date I will happy the read it over for you.

The teams will give presentations on the following:

1.  Films. Each team will be responsible for reporting on at least two films.
2.  The National Geographic. Each team will report on one or two extended articles from the NG - In four presentations we will want to cover a considerable time depth. (The NG is over a 100 years old.)

Click Here for the Team List and Schedule.

Film Logs

Although each of you will be reporting, as part of your team, on a selected set of films, you are expected to see a large portion of the films listed in this syllabus. At the end of the course, at exam time, you will turn in a Log on your viewing – a short evaluative paragraph for each film. The logs will evaluated as being: comprehensive, adequate, minimal and the evaluation will become part of the course grade.

Class schedule:

20 Jan - Introduction. - We will also set up the four teams and allocate the films to presented by the teams.

25 Jan - The Jóola world in photographs

27 Jan - Still photography in Anthropology
              Sample Photos from the Edwards' book

1 Feb - Still photography in Anthropology

3 Feb - Still photography in Anthropology

8 Feb - Film: Introduction: Dai Vaughan - Ambiguity, Poetics and Documentary film - Shown in class: Night Mail - filmed in 1936 and directed by John Grierson, who coined the term documentary film.

10 Feb - The First classic documentary film: Nanook of the North - About Flaherty: discussion in class. (Students will have seen the film prior to class)

15 Feb - LOST! - techo-catastrophe!

17 Feb - Team 1: Rouch: Chronique d'un été

22 Feb - Team 2: Rouch 2: Jaguar

24 Feb - Team 3: Marshall general (mainly The Hunters)

       John Marshall and Tim Asch - night time editing.

1 Mar - In Class: Marshall's N/um tchai (A ceremonial dance). and An argument about a marriage

3 Mar - Team 4 Asch 1: Ax Fight and the Yanomami films

5-13 Mar Spring Recess

15 Mar - Team 1 Asch 2: Bali films

17 Mar - Team 2 MacDougall 1

22 Mar - Team 3 MacDougall 2

24 Mar - Team 4: Cannibal Tours

29 Mar - Film, wrap up.

31 Mar - National Geographic presentations: Teams 1 and 2

5 Apr - National Geographic presentations: Teams 3 and 4

7 Apr - National Geographic - An icon of what? - Carol

12 Apr - Documentary Tradition in Photography: Riis - Hine

14 Apr - FSA

19 Apr - LUNPFM - teams 1 and 2

21 Apr - LUNPFM - teams 3 and 4

26 Apr - LUNPFM - wrap up - Caleb

28 Apr - A little bit about LIFE

3 May - last class

Rather than scouting around and looking at a variety of films by a variety of different film makers we will stick with two "classics" and just five other film makers. Teams will not report on the entire set
 

• Robert Flaherty, Nanook of the North [VHS0892 - 55 minutes]

• Jean Rouch,
  
         Chronique d'un été [VHS8081, c. 80min] 
         Jaguar  [VHS4637, pt 1&2, c. 93min]
         La Chasse au lion á l'arc [VHS4626, 68min]        
         Les Maîtres fous [VHS4625, 35min]
         Jean Rouch and his camera in the heart of Africa [A film by Philo Bregstein] [VHS3682, pt 1&2, c.70min]

• Robert Gardner,

  The Forest of Bliss [VHS4529, 90min.]

• John Marshall,
  

   The Hunters  [VHS0473, 72min]
   An Argument about a marriage (to be shown in class) [VHS5258, 20min], plus study  guide.
   N/um tchai (A ceremonial dance)  (a portion will be shown class) [VHS3409, 38min]
   A rite of passage [VHS3390, 16mm]
   Bushmen of the Kalahari (produced by the National Geographic Society) [VHS5424, 50min]

• Tim Asch,

 
The Ax fight  [VHS6516, 30min] (this will be shown in class)
The Feast [VHS13084, 29min]
A father washes his children   [VHS5260, c. 15min]
Magical Death (filmed by Napolean Chagnon) [VHS6205, 30min]
The Yanomanmo myth of Naro as told by Dedeheiwa, [VHS604, 22min]
The Yanomanmo myth of Naro as told by Kaobawa, [VHS6305, 22min]
The Medium is the masseuse; Jero Tapakan [VHS0360, 56min]
A Balinese trance seance, Jero on Jero  [VHS0359, 50min]

• David MacDougall

 
 With Morning Hearts 2001 [VHS12260, 111 min]
 The Doon School Chronicles 1999[VHS11978 (two videos) 120 minutes]
 Tempus de baristas 1997 [VHS9759, 100 min]
 Photo wallahs  1991 [VHS9760, 60 min]
 Three horsemen  1982 [VHS5235, 60 min]
 A wife among wives 1981 [VHS9845, 68 min]
 Takeover 1979 [VHS9798, 92 min]
 Lorang's way: a Turkana man 1977 [VHS9844, 70min]
 The Wedding camels: a Turkana marriage 1976 [VHS9846, 108 min]
 To live with herds 1971 [VHS9813, 69 min]