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An Opportunity to Sample and Reflect
Author(s) -
Bishop John M.,
Bishop Naomi H.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1111/j.1548-1433.2011.01406.x
Subject(s) - visual anthropology , citation , anthropology , sample (material) , history , library science , sociology , computer science , ethnography , chemistry , chromatography
O the years, we have read many reviews in this section, have written a few, and have seen our own films reviewed. So it was an honor to be asked to follow Marc Moskowitz as the new editors for the visual anthropology section of American Anthropologist. Marc’s tenure saw an increased number of reviews, an effort to underscore the synergy between written and visual accounts, and sensitivity to the paradigms that new technologies of acquisition and propagation make possible. We look forward to continuing these initiatives. Our own involvement in visual anthropology spans the early days of Super-8 film for data collection and the Gardner–Rouch–Marshall era through to the present where our film on the Himalayan village where we have worked for many years turned up pirated on a website put up by a villager. He accompanied it with a statement claiming that it advanced “understanding by presenting with dignity and respect the accomplishments and evolving history of the Hyolmo people of Nepal” (Yolmoculturehunter n.d.). What could we say—it was everything we had ever hoped for! That film cost us about $50,000 in film, processing, and postproduction, and we had to carry a VHS player and television set up to the village to show it. Our latest film there cost $100 for tape and batteries, and it now vies for YouTube viewers with films of the same events taken by the subjects themselves. This is an exciting time in visual anthropology. The proliferation of inexpensive imaging devices, editing software, and distribution avenues has opened purely visual discourse to an enormous number of people. Digital images and videos are electronically exchanged; people who once were the subjects of anthropological films make them; videos comment on other videos. This review section is part of a conversation, an opportunity to sample and reflect on the range of subjects, approaches, and concerns of the vast stream of anthropology in visual media. This includes not only films but also photography, museum displays, the Internet, and experimental work with visual imagery in the wider anthropological community. We welcome suggestions and hope that many of you will agree to provide reviews and content for this section.