Journal articles on the topic 'David MacDougall'

Este ensaio se debruça sobre o filme de David e Judith MacDougall, Photo Wallahs, para falar de imagens e de imaginação através do encontro fílmico, encarado como forma de produção de um conhecimento sensível, no contexto específico da Fotografia na Índia

Este artículo repone los diferentes puntos de vista teóricos sobre la ortodoxia y la heterodoxia en las relaciones entre etnografía y cine a través del estudio del film Nosotros los monos (Edmund Valladares, 1971). Se desarrollan los conceptos de Karl Heider, Jay Ruby, David MacDougall y Marc Henri Piault, entre otros; como asimismo se procede a un repaso del cine etnográfico argentino del período 1958-1989 mediante los aportes de los estudios locales sobre el mismo. Las conceptualizaciones de Carl Plantinga, sobre perspectiva formal, abierta y poética, son las configuran el análisis del caso que dará un panorama de las particularidades de este tipo de cine documental en su desarrollo local.

This article reads David MacDougall's Tempus de Baristas (1993) as an instance of the rejection of the didacticism of documentary films driven by the logic of the written text. This ethnographic film about the life of three goat-herders is one of the films that allows the Sardinian-speaking subjects a space and, therefore, a far more prominent role in the total cinematic construction than has usually been the case. Tempus marks the definitive departure from the transmission of written socio-anthropological knowledge that is typical of expository documentaries. The article concludes that the filmic approach of which Tempus is a landmark produces a corporeal and emplaced knowledge that counterbalances the abstract vision of many documentaries about the author's native island and questions traditional forms of scholarly communication, opening up new areas of ethnographic understanding.

David MacDougall é, sem dúvida, a figura mais importante no campo da antropologia visual atualmente. É um cineasta bem conhecido, antropólogo e escritor que contribuiu para o desenvolvimento da antropologia visual, considerada não apenas como um subdomínio da antropologia, mas como um campo de estudo em si, que não depende mais do princípio científico tradicional de investigação antropológica para ser considerado válido.

Through short essay films, Christine Rogers and Catherine Gough-Brady, creative practice researchers and filmmakers, attempt to collaborate with each other and the theories of ethnographers and documentarians David and Judith MacDougall. Christine and Catherine use the writing and films of the MacDougall’s as prompts to turn their attention to the processes of filming. Christine speaks to how holding the camera viewfinder to her face can manufacture belonging, and at other times, provide welcome distancing. Catherine explores observational filmmaking as a methodology that can applied to other endeavours, for instance academia. Alongside this, Catherine uses this film to explore how to create a visual dialogue (or collaboration) between filmic elements within the film. Because of their divergent responses the final works by Christine and Catherine become related rather than collaborative. They reveal that this may result from them both allowing research questions to arise as part of their independent creative processes, rather than being set at the outset.

ResumoVárias associações científicas nacionais e internacionais e antropólogos cineastas abordaram questões relacionadascom a análise de filmes etnográficos, sua avaliação eintegração no trabalho acadêmico. Destes, destacamos aSociedade Francesa de Antropologia Visual, a AmericanAnthropological Association e os antropólogos Bob White,Colette Piault e David MacDougall, todos cineastas eprofessores de antropologia visual / filme etnográfico. Tendo feito durante algumas décadas pesquisa em antropologiavisual e tendo sido convidado a falar sobre a integração defilmes etnográficos em trabalhos acadêmicos e sobre a revisãoe avaliação de filmes em festivais de cinema e de filmesetnográficos, é meu dever contribuir para a sistematização deinformações e para o pensamento dessas questões. É este oobjetivo deste trabalho. AbstractSeveral international scientific associations and filmmakersanthropologists have addressed issues related tothe analysis of ethnographic films, their evaluation andintegration in academic work. Of these we highlight theFVAS-French Visual Anthropology Society, the AmericanAnthropological Association and anthropologistsBob White, Colette Piault and David MacDougall, allfilm-makers and professors of visual anthropologyand ethnographic film. Having done for a few decadesresearch in visual anthropology and having been askedto speak about the integration of ethnographic films inacademic work and about the review of films in film andethnographic film festivals, it is my duty to contribute forthe systematization of information and in the thinking ofthese issues. ResumenDiversas asociaciones científicas nacionales einternacionales y antropólogos cineastas se ocuparon de cuestiones relacionadas con el análisis de películasetnográficas, su evaluación e integración en el trabajoacadémico. De estos, destacamos la Sociedad Francesade Antropología Visual, la American AnthropologicalAssociation y los antropólogos Bob White, Colette Piaulty David MacDougall, todos cineastas y profesores deantropología visual/ película etnográfica. Como me hededicado durante algunas décadas a la investigación enantropología visual y, además de eso, he sido invitado parahablar sobre la integración de películas etnográficas entrabajos académicos y sobre la revisión y evaluación depelículas en festivales de cine y de películas etnográficas,es mi deber contribuir para la sistematización deinformaciones y el pensamiento de esas cuestiones. Es esteel objetivo de este trabajo.

Partindo da ideia colocada por David MacDougall de que imagens produzem um tipo de conhecimento específico diferente da escrita, neste artigo uso o exemplo de um filme que realizei sobre Eugênia, uma imigrante brasileira em Lisboa, para explorar a capacidade conceitual do filme etnográfico. O potencial duplo das imagens, como índice e ícone, pode gerar um modo particular de análise antropológica. No caso que observo aqui, a filmagem da primeira viagem de volta ao Rio de Janeiro de Eugênia ajudou – tanto a ela quanto a mim– a perceber a natureza transformadora desse evento para o significado conferido à prática homemaking e para esta análise sobre imigração e integração. ABSTRACTConsidering David MacDougall’s idea of images that make a specific kind of knowledge which is different from writing, in this paper I use my film about Eugênia, a Brazilian immigrant woman in Lisbon, as an example to explore the conceptual capability of ethnographic films. The double potential of images, as index and icon, may generate a particular mode of anthropological analysis. In this case, filming the first trip of Eugênia back home to Rio de Janeiro have helped both of us to perceive the transformational nature of this event to her sense about the practice of homemaking as well as to my analysis of immigration and integration.

L'articolo analizza Tempus de Baristas (1993), un film del regista di cinema etnografico David MacDougall. Il film si distingue per il rifiuto di affidare la rappresentazione dei protagonisti e delle loro vite alla logica del commento fuori campo. L'esperienza dei tre pastori sardi su cui il film è incentrato è colta visivamente e rivelata allo spettatore secondo i modi di una prospettiva fenomenologica lontana dalla trasmissione testuale di conoscenza antropologica. Piò in generale, l'articolo suggerisce che l'impiego di strumenti audio-visuali è capace di produrre un tipo di conoscenza corporea e situata che controbilancia la visione astratta di numerosi documentari dedicati alla Sardegna e di mettere in discussione i metodi e canoni tradizionali di trasmissione e comunicazione della conoscenza accademica.

O presente ensaio faz uma abordagem sobre a relação de reciprocidade entre os seres humanos e não-humanos que coabitam os morros vivos do povoado Pixaim. Comunidade que localizada às margens do Rio São Francisco, dentro da Área de Proteção Ambiental (APA) de Piaçabuçu, no extremo litoral Sul do estado de Alagoas, no Nordeste do Brasil, possui dinâmicas cosmológicas onde as coisas não-humanas (areias, morros, ventos e rio) possuem características humanas como o falar, o andar, o nascer e o morrer, entre outras competências.Com uma linguagem própria que valoriza a simetria entre Natureza e Cultura defendida pela Antropologia Ecológica, as imagens propõem um exercício, a partir das concepções do Cinema Transcultural elaboradas por David MacDougall, que envolve a ideia de uma produção visual que busca eliminar as fronteiras culturais entre os envolvidos: o EU (pesquisador) e os OUTROS (intelorcutores/espectadores) a partir de mediações de trocas de conhecimentos e informações entre os diversos agentes envolvidos no processo da pesquisa.Desta forma, o ensaio etnográfico segue uma estética própria onde estão presentes imagens de seres humanos em justaposição com imagens dos não-humanos. Estabelecendo uma narrativa onde ambos os seres atuam como informantes sobre as dinâmicas de vida do lugar, em uma tentativa de eliminar a dicotomia de Sociedade e Natureza mostrando que humanos e os seres não-humanos compartilham memórias, experiências e conhecimentos ao coabitarem o Pixaim.O ensaio ‘Morros Vivos’ é uma produção do grupo de pesquisa de Antropologia Visual em Alagoas (AVAL) e parte da dissertação de mestrado ‘Nos Morros Vivos de Pixaim – As dinâmicas dos conhecimentos no ambiente’, que foi defendida no primeiro semestre de 2018 no Programa de Pós-graduação em Antropologia Social (PPGAS), da Universidade Federal de Alagoas (Ufal).PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Natureza / Cultura / Antropologia Visual / Pixaim / Alagoas AUTOR: Waldson de Souza Costa – É mestre em Antropologia Social pelo PPGAS-UFAL e integrante do grupo de pesquisa Antropologia Visual em Alagoas (AVAL). Email: wsouzac@yahoo.com.br [ESPANHOL]MORROS VIVOS El presente ensayo fotográfico hace un abordaje sobre la relación de reciprocidad entre los seres humanos y no humanos que cohabitan los cerros vivos del pueblo de Pixaim. La comunidad que se encuentra a orillas del Río San Francisco, dentro del Área de Protección Ambiental (APA) de Piaçabuçu, en el extremo litoral Sur del estado de Alagoas, en el Nordeste de Brasil, posee dinámicas cosmológicas donde las cosas no humanas (arenas, cerros, vientos y río) poseen características humanas como el hablar, el andar, el nacer y el morir, entre otras competencias.Con un lenguaje propio que valora la simetría entre Naturaleza y Cultura defendida por la Antropología Ecológica, las imágines proponem un ejercicio, a partir de las concepciones del Cinema Transcultural elaboradas por David MacDougall, que involucra la idea de una producción visual que busca eliminar las fronteras culturales entre los involucrados: el EU (investigador) y los OTROS (intelorcutores / espectadores) a partir de mediaciones de intercambios de conocimientos e informaciones entre los diversos agentes involucrados en el proceso de investigación.De esta forma, lo ensayo etnográfico sigue una estética propia donde están colocadas las narrativas de los seres humanos en yuxtaposición con imágenes de los no humanos. Establecer un itinerario donde ambos seres actúan como informantes sobre las dinámicas de vida del lugar, en un intento de eliminar la dicotomía de Sociedad y Naturaleza mostrando que los seres humanos y los seres no humanos comparten memorias, experiencias y conocimientos al cohabitar el Pixar.El ensayo 'Morros Vivos' es una producción del grupo de investigación de Antropología Visual en Alagoas (AVAL) y parte de la disertación de maestría 'En los Morros Vivos de Pixaim - Las dinámicas de los conocimientos en el ambiente', que fue defendida en el primer semestre de 2018 en el Programa de Postgrado en Antropología Social (PPGAS), de la Universidad Federal de Alagoas (Ufal). PALABRAS CLAVE: Naturaleza / Cultura / Antropología Visual / Pixaim / Alagoas REFERÊNCIAS BIBLIOGRÁFICAS BACHELARD, Gaston. A dialética da duração. Ed. Árica, São Paulo, 1994. BARTH, Fredrik. An Anthoropology of Knowledge. In: Current Anthopology, Volume 43, n° 1, 2002. BERKER, Howard S. “Les photographies dissent-elles la vérité?. In: Ethnologie Française – Arrét Sur Images – Photographie et Anthropologie, 2007/1, Volume 37, p. 33-42. Disponível em https://www.cairn.info/revue- ethnologie-francaise-2007-1- page-33.htm. Acesso: 04 de janeiro de 2017.BELTING, Hans. Antropologia da Imagem – Para uma ciência da imagem. Editora KKYM+EAUM, Lisboa, 2014.DESCOLA, Philippe. Além de Natureza e Cultura. In: Tessituras, Pelotas, RS, Vol. 3, N° 1, p. 7-33, jan-jun 2015. ____________ Philippe. Outras Naturezas, Outras Culturas. Editora 34, São Paulo, SP, 2016. _____________, Philippe. 1992. “Societies of nature and the nature of society”. In KUPER, Adam (ed.), Conceptualizing Society. London: Routledge. (pp. 107-126) INGOLD, Tim. Estar Vivo – Ensaios sobre o movimento, conhecimento e descrição. Editora Vozes, Petrópolis, RJ, 2015. ____________. Lines – A brief history. Ed. Routledge, New York, NY, 2007. ____________. Da transmissão de representações à educação da atenção. In: Educação, Volume 33, n°1, p. 6-25, Porto Alegre, RS, 2010. ____________. Trazendo as coisas de volta à vida: Emaranhandos criativos num mundo de materiais. In: Horizontes Antropológicos, Ano 18, n° 37, p. 25-44, Porto Alegre, RS, 2012. MACDOUGALL, David. The Corporeal Image - Film, Ethnography, and the sense. Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 2006. ____________________. Film: Failure and Promise. In: Annual Review of Antropology, Vol. 7, p. 405-425, 1978.________________________. Transcultural Cinema, Pricenton University Press, New Jersey, 1998.MILTON, Kay. s/d. Ecologías: antropología, cultura y entorno - 1996. (www.unesco.org/issj/rics154/ miltonspa.html)VAILATI, Alex e col (orgs.). Antropologia Visual na Prática. Ed. Cultura e Barbárie, Florianópolis, SC, 2016.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us, ... full of grace and truth. -- John 1, 14. So you use the Internet. Perhaps during the course of today you have interacted with an individual with whom you have had no direct real life experience. In email, on ICQ, or within one of the Activeworlds, you may have come to understand and recognise the personality of someone with whom you interact regularly. Even though you've never met them in the flesh, they have a presence in your life. They may give no clues as to their location or hints at any form of personal identifier. You even accept what they show of themselves as a sort of truth, although it may be unverifiable. What else can you do? In effect, you have been dealing with a pseudonymous individual. The use of pseudonyms "creates a context of 'managed ambiguity', permitting relationship, while offering an opportunity to actively conceal or reveal elements of real-life identity" (Chester & Gwynne). Pseudonymity differs from anonymity in that an alias is bestowed upon or chosen by the user, and used consistently over time. New technologies will allow this idea to be taken even further, with users able to construct untraceable identities for use online. These identities will be the "bodies", the new flesh, the vehicle in which users will conduct their online lives. Like Baudrillard's simulacra, this new flesh may even be a representation of something that does not exist in the real world. The driving forces for Internet pseudonymity may include users' desires to play with the concept of identity and explore their own personalities. As Sherry Turkle notes, "computer-mediated communications can serve as a place for the construction and reconstruction of identities" (Turkle 14). With more and more of our everyday activities occurring online the opportunities increase for creation of an online identity that may be different to that presented in real life. Even in choosing a name for use online, we are creating the new flesh in embryonic form. For example on Internet Relay Chat, like many communication forms on the Internet, there is a lack of visual cues associated with participants. To overcome the lack of information which would otherwise be obtained by viewing participants face to face, a self-chosen name becomes the "only initial way of saying who we are, in literally one word or one expression" (Bechar-Israeli). Thus the chosen name becomes a very important token of identity, and may communicate a quite different picture of its owner than exists in reality. However some Internet users lack the opportunity or inclination for this sort of "play". In particular, for many professional, academic and business users, "their institutional connection is a highly relevant fact" (Wynn & Katz). Conducting themselves pseudonymously would require a long period of reputation and credential building that would interfere with their purpose in using the Internet. Pseudonymity is thus unlikely to be an attractive option for these users. However, out in the wider Internet community, another driver for the development of technological solutions to pseudonymity is a broadly felt concern for privacy on the Internet. In October last year a major survey of Internet users found that respondents ranked privacy as the "single most critical issue facing the Internet" (Graphic, Visualization, & Usability Center). Internet users need assurance that they may conduct online activities without fear of surveillance. The concerns about Internet privacy have expanded beyond the traditional fears of government intrusion to include fears about commercial interests reaching further into our private lives. This latter concern may be best expressed in terms of the commoditisation of private information. Information about the behaviour and patterns of individuals is becoming increasingly valuable in our societies. If information about ourselves is becoming valuable, we hope to respond by controlling access to that information and even requiring something in exchange for its use. Think of a customer loyalty card on which you are collecting "points". In effect, the user has swapped their demographic details and a full purchase history for a prize, or a discount on some future purchase. This allows a commercially useful correlation between the individual and their personal situation, likes, dislikes, wants and needs, and behaviour as a consumer. At the same time the user has (hopefully) gained something from the exchange. For commercial interests on the Internet, such an arrangement is unnecessary because the correlation of individuals with their online behaviour patterns is easier to uncover. One example of this is the recent move of database marketers onto the Internet. Last year IntelliQuest, owners of a large database comprising "over 50% of Internet-enabled households" (IntelliQuest), announced a plan to join forces with 24/7, an Internet advertising firm. Unless the user indicates otherwise, Intelliquest will collect demographic data when a software product is registered online. An identifying file (a "cookie") is placed on the user's hard-drive which can be "read" by Websites visited subsequently. 24/7, in cooperation with the visited Website, are then able to serve advertisements targeted to the specific user. 24/7 will track the movements of specific users, and can then "supply IntelliQuest with online surfing habits to supplement [Intelliquest's] demographic information" (Bicknell). In effect, the Internet user has given away their demographic data and a full browsing history for nothing in return. In response to issues of this nature, researchers around the world are developing methods to separate the content of online communications from association with individual senders and receivers. An example is "Crowds", which "operates by grouping users into a large and geographically diverse group (crowd) that collectively issues requests on behalf of its members" (Reiter & Rubin). This prevents a Webserver from identifying the original user requesting a Web page. At the same time, the user could also employ the "Lucent Personal Web Page Assistant" which inserts randomly generated pseudonyms "into Web forms that request a user's name". The system is designed to "consistently use the same pseudonyms every time a particular user returns to the same site, but use a different pseudonym at each Web site" (Cranor). Although each Website may gain information about the browsing habits of a particular pseudonymous user on their own site, it is unable to cross-reference that information with other sites and databases. Taking these and related ideas further is Zero-Knowledge Systems, whose unreleased "Freedom" product reportedly allows the user to create multiple untraceable digital pseudonyms. The company even states that using Freedom to create different pseudonyms gives the user the "opportunity to separately explore completely different areas of the Internet and avoid being profiled by Internet marketers" (Zero-Knowledge Systems). As yet, all of these technologies are immature and often require a motivation and degree of proficiency possibly beyond that of many Internet users. But increasingly the trend is for the technologies to be built invisibly into the lower levels of Internet infrastructure, so that the user may only need to overtly choose who or what they want to be today. The technical details of presenting a consistent and pseudonymous identity will be taken care of automatically. Pseudonymity, and especially anonymity, on the Internet are subject to abuse. Several anonymous remailers, forerunners of systems like Freedom, have had to shut down or restrict their services. In most cases this was not because of criminal or libellous abuse (which would be difficult to prove given the nature of the systems concerned), but because of mass email spam being routed through them. Authorities worldwide are naturally concerned that anonymising and pseudonymising systems may shield the activities of serious criminals. The Cypherpunks, a loose grouping of Internet cryptography and anonymity advocates, term this the "Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse" scenario. Cypherpunks see authorities exaggerating the spectres of "terrorists, paedophiles, drug dealers, and money launderers" ("Adam") in their arguments for greater regulation of the Internet. Despite the hyperbole on both sides, these are serious issues over which debate will intensify. Up until now a deterrent to crime has been the possibility that a criminal might be held responsible for their actions and be bodily removed from society by being taken to prison. With a real life crime committed under conditions of untraceable pseudonymity, only the criminal's pseudonym may be identified. The pseudonymous identity may be removed from society by perhaps somehow being prevented from using the network. But the actual criminal is still free to create another pseudonym and resume activities. Thus, the pseudonymous identity is not subject to the same physical controls or constraints on behaviour as the bodies we use in real life. Perhaps even more alarmingly, the new flesh may still be subject to what could arguably be seen as derivations of real life crimes, such as rape. By the same token this freedom from constraint could also be a positive thing. A person could choose to shape a pseudonymous identity quite different from their real life identity. They might choose a different name, gender, age, body or personality type; and if they are unsatisfied with their experiment, they may try another. Here, the new flesh allows changes in appearence and personality without therapy or surgery. Explorations of the possibilities inherent in the new flesh might help reconcile people to their problems with the old. The improvement and eventual transparency of pseudonymity enhancing technologies will have wide ranging effects. David Post, of the Cyberspace Law Institute, believes pseudonymous speech "is valuable in a way that anonymous speech is not and cannot be, because it permits the accumulation of reputational capital and 'goodwill' over time in the pseudonym itself, while simultaneously serving as a liability limitation insulating the speaker's 'true identity' from exposure" (Post). Given enough time, we may come to accept and trust a pseudonymous identity without needing to question its real life owner. An individual may ultimately be judged less on who or what they are and more on what they are actually seen to do. Pseudonymous life will permit individuals to take part in all aspects of Internet society, to build communities, participate in electronic commerce, and explore aspects of human existence independently and without compromising their real life identities. As the use of the Internet broadens we shall likely see not only pseudonyms in use, but also avatars, representations of a physical form that the user has chosen as their outward appearance. These may be seen now in some three-dimensional interactive spaces, such as Activeworlds, where the user can construct their own body. The avatar is "seen" by other users as the form and location of a pseudonymous individual. One wonders if the new flesh will be a replacement for the old, rather than a sort of supplement. Certainly there is not the technology available now or in the near future for pseudonymous life as a full replacement for the real, The Matrix notwithstanding. Would anyone really want a full replacement which is technically inferior to the real thing? But perhaps without wanting to divorce themselves from the real world, users will still take up pseudonyms for varied reasons -- among them a desire for experiment, privacy, or simply because their Internet Service provider offers the facility. Stewart Brand once said "we are as gods and might as well get good at it". In terms of the Internet, the potential for an almost godlike power to create identities and appearances could lead to a virtual world of the word made flesh. This new flesh may not necessarily be full of grace and truth, but it will dwell amongst us. References "Adam". "The Four Horsemen of the Infocalyse." 1995. 16 Apr. 1999 <http://www.decode.com/fourhorsemen.php>. Bechar-Israeli, Haya. "From <Bonehead&gt to <cLoNehEAd&gt: Nicknames, Play, and Identity on Internet Relay Chat." 1995. 3 May 1999 <http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol1/issue2/bechar.php>. Bicknell, Craig. "Database Marketing on the Web." 1998. 8 Apr. 1999 <http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/15456.php>. Chester, Andrea, and Gillian Gwynne. "Online Teaching: Encouraging Collaboration through Anonymity." Journal of Computer Mediated Communication 4.2 (1998). 12 Apr. 1999 <http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol4/issue2/chester.php>. Cranor, Lorrie. "Internet Privacy: A Public Concern." 1998. 7 Apr. 1999 <http://www.research.att.com/~lorrie/pubs/networker-privacy.php>. Graphic, Visualization, & Usability Center. "10th WWW User Survey." 1999. 7 Apr. 1999 <http://www.gvu.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys/survey-1998-10/>. IntelliQuest. "IntelliQuest's Rapidly Growing High-Tech Household Database Now Identifies More Than 11.5 Million Internet-User Households." 1999. 8 Apr. 1999 <http://www.iq2.net/news/hthh.htm>. Post, David. "Pooling Intellectual Capital: Thoughts on Anonymity, Pseudonymity, and Limited Liability in Cyberspace." 1996. 14 Apr. 1999 <http://www.cli.org/DPost/paper8.htm>. Reiter, Mike, and Avi Rubin. "Anonymity Loves Company." 1999. 14 Apr. 1999 <http://www.research.att.com/projects/crowds/>. Turkle, Sherry. Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. New York: Touchstone, 1995. Wynn, Eleanor, and James Katz. "Hyperbole over Cyberspace: Self-presentation & Social Boundaries in Internet Home Pages and Discourse." The Information Society 13.4 (1998). 13 Apr. 1999 <http://www.slis.indiana.edu/TIS/hyperbole.php>. Zero-Knowledge Systems. "What is Freedom?" 1999. 14 Apr. 1999 <http://www.zeroknowledge.com/products/what.asp>. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Alan Macdougall. "'And the Word Was Made Flesh and Dwelt among Us...': Towards Pseudonymous Life on the Internet." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2.3 (1999). [your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9905/life.php>. Chicago style: Alan Macdougall, "'And the Word Was Made Flesh and Dwelt among Us...': Towards Pseudonymous Life on the Internet," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2, no. 3 (1999), <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9905/life.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Alan Macdougall. (1999) 'And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us...': towards pseudonymous life on the Internet. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2(3). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9905/life.php> ([your date of access]).

Certains ont déjà déclaré que le genre du film ethnographique n’existe pas (MacDougall, 1978), alors que d’autres soulignent la nature obsolète de sa définition (Friedman, 2017). Enfin, certains définissent le film ethnographique d’une manière si restreinte qu’ils mettent de côté tout un pan de son histoire. Par exemple, l’anthropologue américain et critique de films Jay Ruby (2000) définit le film ethnographique comme un film produit par un anthropologue pour des fins anthropologiques. Robert J. Flaherty, qui a réalisé le film Nanook of the North(1922), lui-même considéré comme le père du documentaire au cinéma et du film ethnographique, n’a jamais reçu une formation en anthropologie; sa première carrière était celle d’un prospecteur pour une compagnie ferroviaire dans la région de la Baie d’Hudson. Aussi, peut-on se demander : Est-il possible de réaliser un film ethnographique en adoptant une sensibilité anthropologique, sans toutefois être un.e anthropologue de formation? Nous sommes d’avis que oui. Une question demeure : Comment peut-on définir la sensibilité ethnographique du point de vue cinématographique? Le film ethnographique doit être caractérisé tout d’abord par une responsabilité éthique de la part de l’anthropologue-réalisateur. Cela signifie que celui-ci doit adopter une approche consciencieuse et respectueuse face à la manière dont il inclut « l’autre » soit dans le film soit dans le processus de réalisation. C’est ce qui peut différencier le film ethnographique d’un style cinématographique défini selon ses caractéristiques commerciales ou journalistiques. De plus, le film ethnographique est généralement basé sur de longues périodes d’études de terrain ou de recherche. L’anthropologue-réalisateur peut ainsi avoir entretenu des relations avec les protagonistes du film depuis une longue période de temps. Enfin, l’anthropologue-réalisateur doit démontrer un sincère intérêt à « parler près de » au lieu de « parler de » l’autre, comme le suggère la réalisatrice Trinh T. Minh-ha dans son film Reassamblage (1982) tourné au Sénégal, pour signifier l’intention de l’anthropologue de s’approcher de la réalité de « l’autre » plutôt que d’en parler d’une manière distante. L’histoire du film ethnographique est tissée serrée avec celle de la discipline de l’anthropologie d’une part, et des développements technologiques d’autre part. Les thèmes abordés, mais aussi la manière dont le visuel et le sonore sont traités, analysés et édités, sont en lien direct avec les enjeux et les questions soulevés par les anthropologues à différentes époques de l’histoire de la discipline. Par exemple, Margaret Mead (1975) définit l’anthropologie comme une discipline basée sur l’écrit. De plus, elle critique le fait que les anthropologues s’approprient très peu la caméra. Elle défend l’idée selon laquelle il faudrait favoriser l’utilisation du visuel comme outil de recherche objectif de collecte de données tout en adoptant un discours positiviste et scientifique. Cette approche, que certains qualifieront plus tard de « naïve » (Worth 1980), exclut la présence du réalisateur comme transposant sa subjectivité dans le film. Mead prenait pour acquis que la personne derrière la caméra n’influençait pas la nature des images captées, que sa présence ne changeait en rien les événements en cours, et que ceux et celles devant la caméra vaquaient à leurs occupations comme si la caméra n’y était pas. Cette croyance d’invisibilité de l’anthropologue, pouvant être qualifiée de « mouche sur le mur », suggère l’ignorance du fait que la présence du chercheur influence toujours le contexte dans lequel il se trouve, et ce d’autant plus s’il pointe sa caméra sur les gens. On devrait alors plutôt parler de « mouche dans la soupe » (Crawford 1992 : 67). La crise de la représentation qui a secoué l’anthropologie dans les années 1980 (Clifford & Marcus, 1986) a eu un impact majeur sur la manière dont les anthropologues commencèrent à s’interroger sur leurs pratiques de représentation à l’écrit. Cependant, cette révolution ne s’est pas fait sentir de manière aussi prononcée dans le domaine de l’anthropologie visuelle. Pourtant, les questions de représentations vont demeurer au centre des conversations en anthropologie visuelle jusque que dans les années 2000. Un mouvement progressif vers des approches non-représentationnelles (Vannini, 2015) encourage une exploration cinématographique qui arpente les sens, le mouvement et la relation entre l’anthropologie et l’art. Le film Leviathan (2013), des réalisateurs Lucien Castaing-Taylor et Véréna Paravel du Sensory Ethnography Lab à l’Université d’Harvard, porte sur une sortie en mer d’un bateau de pêche. Une vision presque kaléidoscopique des relations entre les poissons, la mer, les pêcheurs et les machines émerge de ce portrait cosmique du travail de la pêche. L’approche du visuel dans la production de films ethnographiques se développe donc de pair avec les enjeux contemporains de la discipline. La technologie influence également la manière avec laquelle les anthropologues-réalisateurs peuvent utiliser les appareils à leur disposition. Par exemple, l’invention de la caméra à l’épaule et du son synchronisé dans les années 1960 – où le son s’enregistre simultanément avec l'image –permet une plus grande flexibilité de mouvements et de possibilités filmiques. Il devient plus courant de voir des participants à un film avoir des échanges ou répondre à la caméra (par exemple Chronique d’un été de Jean Rouch et Edgar Morin (1961)) plutôt que d’avoir des commentaires en voix off par un narrateur dieu (par exemple The Hunters de John Marshall et Robert Gardner (1957)). Ces technologies ont donné naissance à de nouveaux genres filmiques tels que le cinéma-vérité associé à l’anthropologue-cinématographe français Jean Rouch et à une lignée de réalisateurs qui ont été influencés par son travail. Ses films Moi, un noir (1958), et Jaguar (1968) relancent les débats sur les frontières entre la fiction et le documentaire. Ils forcent les anthropologues à penser à une approche plus collaborative et partagée du film ethnographique. Les Australiens David et Judith MacDougall ont également contribué à ouvrir la voie à une approche qui encourage la collaboration entre les anthropologues-réalisateurs et les participants-protagonistes des films (Grimshaw 2008). Du point de vue de la forme du film, ils ont aussi été des pionniers dans l’introduction des sous-titres plutôt que l’utilisation de voix off, pour ainsi entendre l’intonation des voix. Il existe plusieurs genres et sous-genres de films ethnographiques, tels que les films observationnels, participatifs, d’auteur, sensoriels, expérimentaux, etc. Comme tout genre cinématographique, le film ethnographique s’identifie à une histoire, à une approche visuelle, à des influences et à des réalisateurs qui ont laissé leurs marques. En Amérique du Nord, dans les années 1950 et 1960, le cinéma direct, inspiré par le travail du cinéaste russe Dziga Vertoz, le Kino-Pravda (traduit comme « cinéma vérité », qui a aussi influencé Jean Rouch), avait pour objectif de capter la réalité telle qu’elle se déroule devant la caméra. Ce désir de refléter le commun et la vie de tous les jours a contribué à créer une esthétique cinématographique particulière. Optant pour un style observationnel, le cinéma direct est caractérisé par un rythme lent et de longues prises, peu de musique ou effets spéciaux, mettant souvent l’emphase sur l’observation minutieuse de processus (comme par exemple, le sacrifice d’un animal ou la construction d’un bateau) plutôt que sur une trame narrative forte. Au Québec, le film Les Raquetteurs (1958) coréalisé par Michel Brault et Gilles Groulx et produit par l’Office National du Film du Canada en est un bon exemple. Certains films, que l’on associe souvent au « quatrième » cinéma et qui sont caractérisés par une équipe autochtone, ont aussi contribué au décloisonnement du film ethnographique comme étant essentiellement une forme de représentation de l’autre. Fondée en 1999, Isuma Igloolik Production est la première compagnie de production inuite au Canada. Elle a produit et réalisé des films, dont Atanarjuat : The Fast Runner (2001) qui a gagné la Caméra d’Or à Cannes ainsi que six prix gémeaux. Grâce à la technologie numérique, qui a démocratisé la production du film ethnographique, on observe une éclosion des genres et des thèmes explorés par la vidéo ainsi qu’une prolifération des productions. Tout porte à croire que le film ethnographique et ses dérivés (vidéos, installations, compositions sonores avec images) sont en pleine expansion.