Editor steven feld opens with a concise overview of rouch s career, highlighting the themes found throughout his work. Harvard university press, 1988, and jeanette debouzeks excellent, the ethnographic surrealism of. Looking back at it, i think that we had a crazy chance to live through a crazy time. Essential reading in any serious study of the films of jean rouch is the earlier monograph by.
Historical overviews of early ethnographic filmmaking. Cineethnography is a longoverdue englishlanguage resource that collects rouchs key writings, interviews, and other materials that distill his thinking pdf on filmmaking, ethnography, and his own career. Request pdf on aug 1, 20, natasha fijn and others published the adventure of the real. Rouch is the recipient of numerous awards, including the international critics award at cannes for the film chronicle of a summer in 1961. The publication of cineethnography by jean rouch, a living legend in documentary film and world anthropology, is an event to celebrate. Jean rouch was a french filmmaker and anthropologist. The book is wellwritten and is an easy read, something you can mull over before bedtime, in contrast to some other cluttered or jargonfull biographies of rouch. Jean rouch 31 john marshall 34 robert gardner 38 timothy asch 42 university of california american indian series 45 the netsilik eskimo project 45 australia 46 the natives view 47 institutionalization of ethnographic film 49 3. Although it is sometimes a difficult genre to define. Rouchs practice as a filmmaker, for over sixty years in africa, was characterized by the idea of shared anthropology.
In the process, i identify elements in the work of the filmmaker and anthropologist that amount to a critique of any simplistic opposition between prose and poetry, science and art, rational and irrational, material and immaterial, the thought world and the. Request pdf on dec 1, 2005, anna grimshaw and others published cine ethnography. Prins and others published the adventure of the real. Influenced by his discovery of surrealism in his early twenties, many of his films blur the line between fiction and documentary, creating a new style of ethnofiction. Rouch s practice as a filmmaker, for over sixty years in africa, was characterized by the idea of shared anthropology. Most critics acknowledge rouchs innovative use of the camera, but they are divided over the politics of the documentary, or of the hauka ritual in the british colony of the. In such acclaimed works as jaguar, the lion hunters, and cocorico, monsieur poulet, rouch has explored racism, colonialism, african modernity, religious ritual, and music. Cineanthropology jean rouch with enrico fulchignoni 147 les maitres fous, the lion hunters, and jaguar jean rouch with john marshall and john w. Rouch jean rouch 19172004 was one of the 20thcenturys most important documentary filmmakers, and a revolutionary force in the fields of cultural and visual anthropology, and colonial and postcolonial african studies. Influenced by his discovery of surrealism in his early twenties, many of his films blur the line. Jean rouch is his favorite, by far, of all the classic ethnographic filmmakers, and this shows in just simple conversation with henley.
Skill enhancement course 02 techniques of ethnographic filmmaking. I argue that flahertys film illustrates the general fieldwork schema proposed by malinowski to document the world of the othernative. He pioneered numerous film techniques and technologies, and in the. Ethnofiction and the films of jean rouch popmatters.
Rouch is the recipient of numerous awards, including the international critics award at. He is considered to be one of the godard said of rouch in the cahiers du cinema notebooks on cinema n94. Cine ethnography is a longoverdue englishlanguage resource that collects rouch s key writings, interviews, and other materials that distill his thinking pdf on filmmaking, ethnography, and his own career. Manthia diawara to be seen outside of class readings. Rouch, jean, conversation between jean rouch and professor enrico fulchignoni, in trans. Well worth the read if you are interested in the politics of cinema and truth. Jean rouch and the craft of ethnographic cinema by paul henley find, read and cite all the research you. In december 1959, jean rouch and i were jurors together at the first international festival of ethnographic film in florence. In this paper i explore the connections between the anthropology of marcel mauss and the anthropological cinema of jean rouch. The semiotics of ethnographic film irene portis winner cambridge, ma august 7. H sociology skill enhancement course 02 techniques.
The first moment examines the common practice of bronislaw malinowski and robert flahertys nanook of the north. Jean rouch and the craft of ethnographic cinema find, read and cite all the research you need on. In jean rouchs universe ethnographers participated fully in the lives of their others. Marcel mausss manual of ethnography to the letter you will film all. It was a long time coming, as rouch would have celebrated his 100th birthday on may 31, 2017. Editor steven feld opens with a concise overview of rouchs career, highlighting the themes found throughout his work. Jean rouchs greatest contribution was to have created a body of work in which the limits of the ethnographic are the limits of the imagination. An interesting article i found in that old, now defunct journal, visual sociology, which discusses one of the greatest ethnographic filmmakers of all time, jean rouch, and his opus chronicle of a summer. Everything that my generation learned during the previous twenty years was revealed to be an illusion in just one month in may 1940. Cineethnography by jean rouch 9780816641048 paperback. The article explores three consecutive periods in which the disciplines of anthropology and film ethnography collide. One of the most influential figures in documentary and ethnographic filmmaking, jean rouch.
Abstract this issues visual anthropology section is a tribute to anthropologist. See james cliffords on ethnographic surrealism, in the predicament of culture. One of the most influential figures in documentary and ethnographic filmmaking, jean rouch has made more than one hundred films in west africa and france. Twentieth century ethnography, literature, and art cambridge, massachusetts. Millar, in the classic manual on contemporary film editing, stress this. Request pdf on dec 1, 2005, anna grimshaw and others published cineethnography.
Adams 188 the politics of visual anthropology jean rouch with dan georgakas, udayan gupta, and judy janda 210 part iii. Rouchs practice as a filmmaker for over sixty years in africa, was characterized by the idea of shared anthropology. This paper discusses major themes in jean rouchs cinema for the purpose of illuminat ing their. Ethnofiction, a branch of docufiction, blurs the line between documentary and fiction, using actors and scripts or, in some cases, improvisation to portray and represent ethnographic issues. Ethnocinema, from jean rouchs cineethnography and ethnofictions, is an emerging practice of intercultural filmmaking being defined and extended by melbourne, australiabased writer and arts educator, anne harris, and others. It is a book both by and about the pioneering documentary filmmaker whose motion pictures.
After working as a civil engineer in west africa during world war ii. The camera and man ethnographic, documentary, and non. Ethnographic film syllabus public wellesley college. For me, as an ethnographer and filmmaker, there is almost no boundary. Ethnocinema, from jean rouchs cineethnography and ethnofictions, is an emerging. The colliding worlds of anthropology and filmethnography. Ably introduced and translated by steven feld, this book, which will be an indispensable resource for any person interested in visual studies, introduces readers to the provocatively challenging visual world.