David MacDougall

For the Hong Kong colonial secretary, see David Mercer MacDougall.

David MacDougall
Born (1939-11-12) November 12, 1939 (age 85)
New Hampshire, United States
NationalityAmerican-Australian
EducationHarvard University
University of California, Los Angeles
Known forThe Doon School Quintet
The Wedding Camels
Ethnographic films in Africa, India and Australia
SpouseJudith MacDougall
AwardsGrand Prix "Venezia Genti," Venice Film Festival, 1972
First Prize, Cinéma du Réel, 1979
Lifetime Achievement Award, Royal Anthropological Institute, 2013
Scientific career
FieldsVisual anthropology, Social anthropology, Documentary films
InstitutionsRice University
New York University
Australian National University
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David MacDougall (born November 12, 1939) is an American-Australian visual anthropologist, academic, and documentary filmmaker, who is known for his ethnographic film work in Africa, Australia, Europe and India. For much of his career he co-produced and co-directed films with his wife, fellow filmmaker Judith MacDougall.[1] In 1972, his first film, To Live with Herds was awarded the Grand Prix "Venezia Genti" at the Venice Film Festival.[2][3] He has lived in Australia since 1975, and is currently a professor in the Research School of Humanities & the Arts at Australian National University.

MacDougall has produced films covering a wide range of subjects, be it the semi-nomadic Turkana people of Kenya in The Wedding Camels or an elite North Indian boys' boarding school in The Doon School Quintet. Influenced by cinéma vérité and Direct Cinema in the 1960s, he is considered to be one of the pioneers of observational cinema, films that present the observations of an individual filmmaker, whose perspective is shared with the viewer.[4] He has advocated “participatory cinema” in which the subjects of documentary films are more fully involved in their creation. He was one of the first ethnographic filmmakers to eschew explanatory narration and employ longer takes, using subtitles to translate the speech of people in other cultures.[5] His films have also explored what he has termed “social aesthetics,” the combination of manners, everyday rituals, textures, colors, architectural forms, and material objects that create the distinctive character of a community.[6]

MacDougall is considered one of the most prominent theorists in visual anthropology.[7] Both Judith and David are considered to be among the most significant anthropological filmmakers in the English-speaking world.[8][9][10] In 2013, MacDougall received the Life Achievement Award from the Royal Anthropological Institute in London.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Maslin, Janet (October 28, 1981). "Film: Anthropologists Focus on Tribal Patriarch in Kenya". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
  3. ^ Strecker, Ivo (2013). Writing in the Field. LIT Verlag. p. 225. ISBN 9783643904249. David MacDougall...his first feature-length film, To Live with Herds, won the Grand Prix 'Venezia Genti' at the Venice Film Festival in 1972.
  4. ^ Grimshaw, Anna; Ravetz, Amanda (2009). Observational Cinema. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253354242.
  5. ^ Loizos, Peter (1993). Innovation in Ethnographic Film: From Innocence to Self-Consciousness 1955-1985. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226492273.
  6. ^ Fahey, Johannah; Prosser, Howard; Shaw, Matthew, eds (2016). In the Realm of the Senses: Social Aesthetics and the Sensory Dynamics of Privilege. Springer Verlag. DOI: 10.1007/978-981-287-350-7 ISBN 9789811013454.
  7. ^ Ferrarini, Lorenzo (May 10, 2018). "MacDougall, David (b. 1939) and Judith (b. 1938)". The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology. American Cancer Society. pp. 1–3. doi:10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea1874. ISBN 9780470657225. S2CID 193140605.
  8. ^ Grimshaw, Anna (April 10, 2001). "The anthropological cinema of David and Judith MacDougall". The Ethnographer's Eye. Cambridge University Press. pp. 121–148. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511817670.009. ISBN 9780521773102.
  9. ^ "David & Judith MacDougall bio". subsol.c3.hu.
  10. ^ Barbash, Ilisa; MacDougall, David; Taylor, Lucien; MacDougall, Judith (1996). "Reframing Ethnographic Film: A "Conversation" with David MacDougall and Judith MacDougall". American Anthropologist. 98 (2): 371–387. doi:10.1525/aa.1996.98.2.02a00120. JSTOR 682894.