Ethnocinema

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Ethnocinema, from Jean Rouch’s cine-ethnography and ethno-fictions,[1] is an emerging practice of intercultural filmmaking being defined and extended by Melbourne, Australia-based writer and arts educator, Anne Harris, and others. Originally derived from the discipline of anthropology, ethnocinema is one form of ethnographic filmmaking that prioritises mutuality, collaboration and social change.[2] The practice's ethos claims that the role of anthropologists, and other cultural, media and educational researchers, must adapt to changing communities, transnational identities and new notions of representation for the 21st century.

Ethno-cinematographers have also been associated with American historian James Clifford who has asserted that “all ethnographic representations are partial truths”.[3] Collaborative ethnographic film and video projects are created with the intention of going beyond "preserving", "empowering" or "giving voice" to marginalised cultures, ethnicities, communities or individuals.[4] According to theorists, such voices already have agency and share community or agendas with ethnocinematic filmmakers. Ethnocinematic films primarily document "relationships"[5] between filmmakers from different cultures, or subcultures, who now share common space of a political, philosophical, geographical or virtual nature.

Ethno-cinematographers include Jean Rouch, Trinh T. Minh-ha,[6] Harald Prins,[7] David and Judith MacDougall,[8] Faye Ginsburg, Timothy Asch and, indigenous filmmakers such as Australian Essie Coffey who collaborating interculturally to create ethnocinematic works.

  1. ^ Rouch, Jean. 2003. Cine-Ethnography. Translated and edited by Steven Feld. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
  2. ^ Harris, Anne. "Race and Refugeity: Ethnocinema as Radical Pedagogy" in Qualitative Inquiry (ERA=B) Nov 1, 2010:16, pp. 768-777. http://qix.sagepub.com/content/16/9/768.short
  3. ^ Clifford, James and George E. Marcus, (eds). 1986. Writing culture: the poetics and politics of ethnography. Berkeley, CA: Univ of California Press., pg 7.
  4. ^ Harris, Anne. "‘You Could Do With A Little More Gucci’: Ethnographic Documentary Talks Back" in Creative Approaches to Research, Vol 2:1, July 2009. Melbourne: RMIT Publishing
  5. ^ Harris, Anne and Nyuon, Nyadol: "Working It Both Ways: Intercultural Collaboration and the Performativity of Identity" The Australasian Review of African Studies, Vol 31:1, June 2010. Pp 62-81. "Australasian Review of African Studies". Archived from the original on 2011-02-16. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
  6. ^ Minh-Ha, Trinh T, (ed) The Digital Film Event, Routledge, New York, 2005
  7. ^ Prins. 2004. "Visual Anthropology". in A Companion to the Anthropology of American Indians, edited by T. Bilosi. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Pp 506-525.
  8. ^ MacDougall, David, Transcultural Cinema, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1998.