240019 VO Introduction to Visual Anthropology (3.2.6) (2022W)

Aims, contents and method of the course:
This lecture series offers an introduction to Visual Anthropology. Visual Anthropology is a subfield of anthropology that does not only study visual culture but also integrates practices of visual media production (especially filmmaking) within anthropological research and reporting. Despite its consolidation as a subdiscipline with its own institutions and discussion forums, Visual Anthropology has always remained a highly dynamic field, and its practitioners have formulated varied and sometimes opposing interpretations of what visual anthropology is or should be. The recent renaming of the subdiscipline as ‘Multimodal Anthropology’ is an example of this. Students will learn about these different ideas and practices by studying relevant literature, films, and media projects that will be discussed in the lectures. Students will arrive at an in-depth understanding of the field in order to eventually formulate interpretations of their own.

The following topics will be discussed:
• Visual Anthropology and Multimodal Anthropology
• Camera-based ethnography
• Montage and theory construction
• Distribution, audiences, and reception
• Shared anthropology, reflexivity, and decolonizing anthropology

Learning goals:
At the end of the course, students will have substantiated knowledge about:
• key ideas and practices in the field of visual anthropology, and important debates in the field;
• how visual anthropology approaches have responded to changing technological and social-political conditions, and to shifting theoretical frameworks in the history of the broader discipline of anthropology;
• through their comparative viewings of anthropological films: how certain cinematographic choices (e.g., in camera work, sound, and editing) express certain theoretical or methodological approaches.

By gaining this knowledge, students will be challenged to:
• start formulating their own view on the role of (audio)visual media practices in anthropological research;
• to envision implementing such practices in the future.

Set-up:
Each week, students study a film or other media work alongside literature. In the accompanying lectures, the lecturer highlights key ideas and backgrounds to deepen students' understanding of the literature and media works.

Optional film viewing club:
If students have an interest in watching the compulsory films together in the department (rather than alone at home), a time/space can be arranged for this outside of classroom hours. This optional student-led film viewing club will be set up only if there is sufficient interest among students - to be discussed in the first class.