Master Visual and Media Anthropology

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Modules

subject under possible revision

6 modules have to be completed. The modules consist of various units. Each unit includes exams and assignments. Credit points will be awarded for successful completion. The students have to complete both Basic Modules and can choose two from three Profile Modules.

 

First Semester

(Winter term from October 3rd 2011 to February 20th 2012)

The whole program starts with the first 2-week in-house-class on October 4th 2011

Freie Universität Berlin                                 
"Silberlaube" JK 26/140
Habelschwerdter Allee 45
14195 Berlin (Dahlem)

 

The Author is Dead! Long Live the Author! An historical overview of the role of authorship in ethnographic film. (Paul Henley)

In-house class

With the aid of extracts from a number of key films, I will consider the many different ways in which, from the first use of a moving image camera in the field in 1898 to the present day, anthropologist-film-makers have sought to avoid the implications of authorship in their work, though the grounds on which they have sought to justify this avoidance strategy has varied over time.

 In contrast to this tendency to deny authorship, I shall argue that not only is this an illusion, but that all the most significant works of ethnographic cinema have been produced when the film-maker has not been afraid to declare their authorship. In the latter part of the lecture, I will discuss what kind of authorship strategies are appropriate to anthropology as an academic discipline at the beginning of the 21st century.

 

Basic Module 1: Visual Anthropology (15 credits)

Students are introduced to the basic working methods and theories of Visual Anthropology. They are familiarized with prevalent approaches and theories and their application. As they are expected to have rather diverse backgrounds, this introduction also aims at achieving a common basis from which to proceed to the specific modules. Visual Anthropology consists of four courses: 1a, 1c, 1d are in-house-courses in Berlin in a workshop-style, 1b is an Online-course, that starts after the in-house-class.

 

1a) Introduction to Visual Anthropology  (Axel Koehler)

In-house class

Beyond observation: audio-visual anthropology, ethnographic film and the anthropology of the senses

Malinowski’s phrase ‘the native’s point of view’ is probably one of the most quoted phrases in the history of anthropology and has certainly often been quoted in the work of many a visual anthropology student I have taught over the past twenty to thirty years . This course, while giving an introduction to visual anthropology and ethnographic film, will challenge the notion of ‘the native’s point of view’, deconstructing it in an attempt to demonstrate how it is firmly embedded in a dichotomy between ‘us’ and ‘them’ that has formed an intrinsic mode of conception in anthropology in particular and Western thinking in general. The course will also question the notion of ‘observation’ and the pivotal role it has played both in anthropology, e.g. in the notion of participant observation, and in cinema, e.g. in so-called observational films. Discussing (audio-) visual perception and apperception, the course argues against visualism and the notion that there is such a thing as ‘pure’ observation. Referring to filmic examples, as well as theoretical discourse, we will focus on ways in which visual anthropology and ethnographic film may help us understand the wider issue of cross-cultural representation and ways in which the theories and practices of these may help us develop more sensorially based forms of understanding ‘otherness’. The lectures and discussions will be accompanied by the screening of films and film excerpts.

 

1b) Classics and Varieties of Ethnographic Film (Elhum Shakerifar)

Online-course

Spread over thirteen units, this course will take us from the first grainy ethnographic film shot in the Arctic all the way to southern Ethiopia, with stopovers in Bali, Russia, Italy, Ghana, the United States, Canada, Germany and England. On this journey, we will explore classic works, figures and issues in the history and practice of ethnographic film.  In so doing, we will encounter the visual anthropologists Margaret Mead, Timothy Asch, Jean Rouch, Robert Gardner, Judith and David MacDougall, and many others. The goal is to experience and reflect on a diversity of ways of seeing, and thereby inspire new ways of filming.

Each unit will be based on viewing and discussing films. We will aim to grasp an understanding of each film and its relationship to anthropology, and the way these films deal with issues and themes on-camera, off-camera, behind-camera and on the screen. We will consider the use of the camera as a research tool, the Kino-Eye, early British Realism and Italian Neorealism, aesthetics in film, ciné-trance, ciné-vérité, observational film, issues of cultural and gender representation, auto-ethnography, and ethical questions raised by the practice of ethnographic film.

 

1c) Producing and Reading Moving Images (Kristian Petersen) Camera Workshop

In-house class

This course will start with basic practical skills on how to use camcorders professionally and make interviews.  Technical, formal and ethical elements of filming in other cultures will be examined.  Based upon the screening of contemporary creative documentaries and through a series of exercises it will put forward performative and sensorial approaches in filmmaking.

 

1d) "I can't tell the truth...only what I know": Multivocality/Montage and the Reflexive Application of the Photograph (Mark Curran)

In-house course

Late modern critique regarding visual representation and media in general has created an environment where photographers and artists have revised and transformed photographic research practices into more complex forms. This seminar introduces such forms and locates this work within the context of the indexical association, historically, of photography’s relationship to reality. Engaging with both theoretical and visual discourse, this seminar will examine how responses to this core tenet have impacted upon and informed contemporary research practice and how such practice has sought to represent reality and the everyday. Drawing on research, informed by visual ethnography, and multi-sited fieldwork addressing labour, global labour practices and the predatory impact of migrations of global capital, the seminar will foreground a methodological framework which affords the application of the photograph as a core method in the context of a critically reflexive research practice. Simultaneously, such an approach highlights performative and disseminative interventions regarding the re-narration of research extending to installation, web-based and bound publication.

 

Basic Module 2: Media Anthropology (15 credits)

Students are introduced to the basic working methods and theories of Media Anthropology. They are familiarized with prevalent approaches and theories and their application Media Anthropology consists of two modules. 2a is a in-house-course in Berlin. 2b is an Online-course.

 

2a) Introduction to Media Anthropology, From Media to Digital Anthropology (Nadine Wanono)  

In-house class

2b) Social Anthropology in Virtual Worlds (Undine Frömming)

Online-course

In this course students will use their own Avatar to conduct an (audio-)visual fieldwork in the virtual world Second Life. One aim of the course is to simulate different ethnographic fieldwork methods in virtual worlds. With the use of visual anthropological and ethnographic methods we will produce short virtual in-world-films (machinimas) and photography projects on topics such as the representation of indigenous media in virtual worlds, (de-)construction of gender and sexuality, surveillance and simulation of reality, construction and perception of virtual landscape. Furthermore we will discuss classical and latest literature on Cyberanthropology and virtual culture reserach as well as literature on ethnographic methods.The condition of participation for this course is to have one's own Avatar in Second Life and a computer which supports and can run Second Life.

 

© U. Frömming 2008, Screenshots, Second life

Second Semester

(Summer term from April 1st to July 16th 2012)

In-house classes will take place from April 12th to April 27th 2012

(Choose two from three Profile Modules)

Profile Module A: Basics and Varieties of Ethnographic Film Production (15 credits)

A1) Transcultural Film Workshop (Eva Knopf, Tobias Becker, Mark Dölling)

In-house course

In this class you will realize your first film project using digital media. You will be guided through all the steps of a film production: finding an idea, presenting it, pre-production, production and post-production. The Inhouse class will focus on your pitch, introduction to the digital video equipment, filming strategies, the actual shoot and editing. By the end of the seminar you will have produced a five to ten minute film. Even though this seminar is primarily practical, it's aim is to contribute to the formation of academically trained scientists. To this end, throughout the course, the link between practical choices and aesthetics and anthropological theory is stressed.

A2) Poetic Framing (Kristian Petersen)

Online-course

This course will be a continuation of the exercise course from the first semester. We will continue with more advanced exercises, focusing on topics such as grammar of film, syntax, framing and theoretical discussions on what a frame is. The monthly meetings will also act as a platform for the project of "Alternative Healers." Here we will discuss strategies, form, and content of the singular films which are part of the compilation. Within this course Kristian Peterson also offers individual meetings. This course is not mandatory but recommended.

 

Profile Module B: Communication/Mediascapes (15 credits) 

B1) Experimental Film (Dalia Neis)

In-house course

Experimental film practice: A two day workshop exploring ways in which the cinema can subvert and challenge dominant mainstream cinematic and cultural forms. The workshop will take as its starting point key theoretical and film texts that pioneered alternative ways of making and engaging with cinema. Often described as ‘Artist’, ‘Avant-garde’, ‘Experimental’, or ‘Underground’ film, we will look at introductions to feminist film theory, queer cinema, anti-colonial filmmaking, and consider a wide variety of approaches to alternative film practice that will both question and re-frame approaches to visual anthropology. Through re-assessing the language of mainstream filmmaking, we will attempt to seek out alternative strategies for visual anthropological practice.

The workshop will include presentations, screenings, discussion, and initial planning of small-scale experimental film projects.

B2) Indigenous Media (Eva Knopf, Yulia Mahr)

Online-course

The course provides an introduction to how indigenous people use audiovisual media. Starting with a general perspective on the phenomenon, we will discuss the history of representation in ethnographic filmmaking from authoritarian styles to self-representation. Focusing on a case study in Chiapas, Mexico, we will develop a general overview of the politics and poetics of indigenous filmmaking concentrating especially on feminist and postmodern approaches.  Broadening the scope, we will also discuss the reality of mass media in the traditional sites of anthropological fieldwork, as well as new transnational networks of media distribution and the role of media in maintaining diasporic connections.

The theoretical framework of this course will not only encompass the latest ethnographic material, but also perspectives from communication studies, cultural studies and the philosophy of media. We will consider the development and role of indigenous media productions in promoting indigenous cultures, languages and world-view, how media technologies affect the representation and reproduction of indigenous cultures.Potential stories, series and program ideas will be explored. Students will have the opportunity to develop a thorough understanding of production practices and skills.

 

© U. Frömming 2001, Kameraman Tanzania, Makunduchi

Profile Module C: Applied Visual and Media Anthropology (15 credits) 

C1) Photography and Anthropology (Samuli Schielke)

In-house course

Photography has an ambiguous place in cultural and social anthropology. Originally celebrated for being an objective means to document and study peoples and races, early anthropological photography became embedded into colonialist and racist exploitation, but it also provided inspiration for new projects in documentary photography that searched to look at the humanity of its subjects. Most crucially perhaps, with the rapid spread of photography around the world, the photograph soon ceased to be a technology of the Western colonial power as people around the world sought to record their status and aspiration in studio photographs. And with the emergence of snapshot photography, introduced in early 20th century and most dramatically magnified by digital imaging and mobile phones in the past decade, photography has developed into an everyday practice of remembrance, self-making, creativity, and social commentary around the world.

In current anthropology, the belief in the objectivity of photographs has long since waned, replaced by a reflective understanding of many meanings, uses and powers of the photographic image. This has made it only more fruitful for anthropological research, partly through the use of photography as a technique of fieldwork and publication, and partly as photography as a social practice has become a part of visual anthropology’s subject matter.

In this in-house class we focus on this ambiguity of photography as a method and a subject of anthropology by the means of a combination of readings in ethnographic research, works of art and documentary photographers, and practical experiments. The aim of this course is not just to provide you with practical skills for using your camera in the field. More centrally, it is about learning to reflect about the making and the uses of the photographic image in its different forms. In the in-house class we will approach the subject experimentally, discussing and testing different ways of photographing, being photographed and using images.

Prior to the in-house class you will receive two key texts which you have to read in advance. Please bring with you to the in-house class a photograph which you find to be expressing, illustrating, commenting, confirming, developing, questioning or contradicting the ideas conveyed in the two texts (or one of them). The only condition is that you were involved in the making of the photograph, be it as the photographer, the photographed, or in some other way. If you have a digital version of the image, please e-mail it to me not later than two days before the class. Please also bring with you an analogue camera, preferably one with manually adjustable focus, aperture and shutter speed. If you do not have one, buy one on the flea market (but do check that it works!). They are very cheap. (If you live in Berlin, Practica is a good, inexpensive and widely available choice.) Film will be provided.

C2) Applied Visual Anthropology (developed and taught by Prof. Dr. Sarah Pink)

Online-course

Visual Anthropology methods and media are being increasingly used both in applied research across academic disciplines. The course explores historical and contemporary developments in the field of practice that we might call Applied Visual Anthropology. The basic principles of this approach might be conceptualized as involving participatory, collaborative and interdisciplinary research, with the aim of producing or contributing to some kind of social intervention. Yet within this definition there are variations. Each week we will examine a set of materials relating to specific areas and practices in applied visual anthropology.

 

Third semester

(winter term from September 30th 2011 to February 20th 2012)

Project-Module 1: Internship

Internship (extern, third semester, winter semester, in the time between Oct. 2011 - Feb. 2012, 9 weeks) (15 credits)

The students should complete their internship (9 weeks) in a film production company, TV-station, museum or other related field of the Master programme. This internship shall give students an insight into potential areas of employment and confront them with the professional demands in one of the related fields.

Please note that it is possible for advanced students to obtain an exemption from doing the internship.  This should be discussed on an individual-case basis with your program director and coordinator.  Students will instead have to write a paper. 

For those doing the internship, you should ask your internship provider for an official letter certifying that you did your internship there.  The letter should include: Name and contact of internship institution/provider, internship dates and a  brief description of tasks.

You should ideally finish your internship during the third semester (before March).  If this is not possible, the absolute deadline is June 30th.

Professional Perspectives in Visual and Media Anthropology (Prof. Dr. Undine Frömming, Sophia Schama)

Online-course

This course is an accompanying course to the internship. The aim is to reflect on your experiences during your internship and to share your new ideas, knowledge and experiences with your fellow students. We will meet in our 3D virtual class spaces on Edunation III in Second Life. Undine Frömming will give lectures about professional perspectives in Visual and Media Anthropology for those of you planning a professional university career or a PhD-thesis. Sophia Schama will give lectures about a professional career as an artist (exhibitions/galleries, cooperation with curators and collectors, networking et cetera). We will discuss together the questions of the students and possible options for the future. Start of the course is after the in-house class: October 19th, 4 pm in our virtual classroom in second life.

Project-Module 2: Film Project /Media Project (third semester, winter semester Oct. 2011 - Feb. 2012) (15 credits)

In this course you will work with your supervisor on your final Master project. You will go through the phases of development, production and post production. Additionally you can participate in several courses during the in-house class.

 

Haptic Cinema Super 8 Workshop (Florian Walter, Tobias Becker and Mark Dölling)

In-house class

On the basis of your previous Indigenous Media course (Unit 11, Intercultural Video Art: Representing Non-Western Epistemologies), we want to experiment practically on the idea of haptic cinema and its effects for the audience in this workshop. Using Super 8 material, which already produces tactile qualities due to its graininess, we will conduct a purely analog film production from shooting to editing. We will "get in touch" with the actual super8mm material; cut and glue the filmstock. By this means we will encounter the haptic qualities of film in the broadest sense. Furthermore, our filmic results will have no sound.

We will work in teams of 2-3 persons. Each team will receive one roll of Super8mm film of 3.5 minutes (at 18fps). Working with these kinds of restrictions means that we will have to be clear about our concepts well in advance, because unlike in digital film productions, we will not have any “second chances”.
Please keep in mind that our Super 8 workshop is meant to be a playful experiment rather than a production of transcultural ethnographic masterpieces. You are free to choose your subjects.
At the end of our workshop we will present our short movies at the Moviemento cinema in Kreuzberg and discuss our experiments on haptic cinema with the audience.

 

Construction of the Cinema Subject (Rossella Ragazzi)

In-house class

A variety of constructions of the subject, be it human or non-human, are traceable in the history of filmic anthropology. The class explores concrete examples of how researchers and subjects constitute each other in the process of interacting, affecting, discovering and ultimately transforming their realities. The materializing of these aspects are further explored in their inscription on the artifact made during and through such interactions. Examples are chosen from personal work done, but also from students’ research documentaries, and more historical-known examples of non-fictional cinema.

 

Ethnography – A Workshop (Mareike Barmeyer)

In-house class

“The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity. (One is unable to notice something – because it is always before one’s eyes.)…And this means: we fail to be struck by what, once seen, is most striking and most powerful.” Ludwig Wittgenstein – Philosophical Investigations

The overall aim of this course is not just to give the students an insight into the theoretical background of ethnography but rather to give them the opportunity to critically engage with their own ethnographic data in a hands-on workshop.

The first part of this course deals with the theoretical and historical background of ethnography. Students will be introduced briefly to the various methods of data collection like participant observation, filming etc. A main focus here will be placed on practical issues like how and when best to do fieldnotes (keeping a diary etc.)of how and when to keep track of what is going on.

We will focus on ethnomethodologically informed ethnography as a special way of looking at data. We are going to search for the “seen but unnoticed” in our data and thus treat the activities and understandings of the researcher as phenomena for analysis.

The students are then sent out to engage in a little ethnomethodologically informed ethnographic research in a setting of their own choosing. The second part of the course, the more practically oriented part consists of a hands–on workshop in which we will work on the students’ findings together. (Looking at fieldnotes, analysing their data etc.)

 

Saying Something With and About Photography - Part 1 (Samuli Schielcke)

In this class, which accompanies the process of preparing your MA theses, we look at the relationship of photographic and ethnographic practice and anthropological theory. Visual anthropology in particular is an experimental field where there is no standard solution to finding the right combination of theoretical and methodological experiment and of saying something about the world and the human condition. In this class we therefore take up specific examples (including your own) of what ethnographic research and anthropological theory can and need to accomplish, and what photography and other visual methods can do to say something that could not otherwise be said about the world. In the process, we will also take up the question about what photography as a social practice can tell about being in the world in a given place and time.

 

Fourth Semester

(Summer term from April 1st to July 16th 2012)

In-house classes will take place from April 12th to April 27th 2012

New Narrative Forms and Modes of Representation in Anthropological Documentary (Laurent Van Lancker) 

In-house class

In recent years (and following the poetical turn in anthropology), some documentaries have experimented new modes of representation which extend the classical categorisation (as described by Nichols 90 & 94). In this course we will watch and discuss documentaries of the subgenres of the performative mode: Auto-ethnography,  sensorial, ... but also the appearance of haptic and fictional modes of representation in documentary. And the dialogue between fiction and documentary, reality and imaginary worlds, mythos and logos which does new modes are revealing. We will also analyse and screen documentaries which are proposing new narrative forms which mostly are linked to cultural influences of media (indigineous metaphysics debate) or transcultural approaches.

 

Supervision Courses

(The supervision courses are a combination of a lecture and student presentations of their final thesis exposés.)

I. Visualizing Environmental Anthropology (Undine Frömming)

Online-course with in-house supervision

In this course we will discuss projects of students planning their final M.A. project at the interface of Visual/Media Anthropology and Environmental Anthropology. The course presents the most important discourses and literature in the research field of Environmental Anthropology (indigenous environmental knowledge; perception, construction and appropriation of nature and landscapes; coping and adaptative strategies within the context of climate change and disasters; nature and modernities, virtual environments and landscapes). Discussing and analyzing different audiovisual and written forms of the representation of nature-culture relationships the course wants to raise the question of the limits and challenges of audiovisual and written interpretations in the field of Environmental Anthropology.

 

II. The Construction of the Cinema Subject (Rossella Ragazzi) 

In-house class

The course presents the research and digital film archive collected over a decade in the field of visual anthropology, focusing on the topics of migration and childhood. Main themes that the seminar will analyse are connected to the experience of migration and the intercultural education of non-European children entering Europe in the new millenium. Case studies presented will be from fieldwork in France and Ireland. We will analyse critical concepts, such as observational participant cinema, storytelling and personal memory, transcultural pedagogy, the role of religion in crosscultural understanding, the politics of the migrant domestic space, the practice of cinema-vérité, the construction of adolescence, the performance of migration, childhood strategies of agency and resistance, the politics of heteroglossia, the role of participant cinema and the video-interview.

III. Beyond observation: audio-visual anthropology, ethnographic film and the anthropology of the senses (Peter Crawford)

In-house class

The presentation will question the notion of ‘observation’ and the pivotal role it has played both in anthropology, e.g. in the notion of participant observation, and in cinema, e.g. in so-called observational films. Discussing (audio-) visual perception and apperception, the course argues against visualism and the notion that there is such a thing as ‘pure’ observation. Referring to filmic examples, as well as theoretical discourse, we will focus on ways in which visual anthropology and ethnographic film may help us understand the wider issue of cross-cultural representation and ways in which the theories and practices of these may help us develop more sensorially based forms of understanding ‘otherness’. The presentation will be accompanied by the screening of film excerpts, including clips from new material from the field (Reef Islands, Solomon islands, December 2010).

IV. Saying Something With and About Photography (Samuli Schielke)

In-house class

In this class, which accompanies the process of preparing your MA theses, we look at the relationship of photographic and ethnographic practice and anthropological theory. Visual anthropology in particular is an experimental field where there is no standard solution to finding the right combination of theoretical and methodological experiment and of saying something about the world and the human condition. In this class we therefore take up specific examples (including your own) of what ethnographic research and anthropological theory can and need to accomplish, and what photography and other visual methods can do to say something that could not otherwise be said about the world. In the process, we will also take up the question about what photography as a social practice can tell about being in the world in a given place and time.

 

V. Photo/Film/Media Project (Mark Curran)

Master Thesis (30 credits)

After completing all units and in-house workshops, students should complete within three months one of the following options:

• A Master's thesis of about 18,000 words (60 pages);
• A  film (30-40 min) accompanied by a Master's thesis of about 8.000 words (25 pages);
• A  photography project (25 pictures, each with a caption) or other media project (Second Life, Web 2.0 projects etc.), also accompanied by a Master's thesis of about 10.000 words (30 pages).

Students may choose the topic they wish to elaborate on. The topic has to be closely connected to the matters studied. Great importance is attached to the correct use of methodology, the application of theoretical models as well as an acceptable format.

The thesis is due on October 4th. It will be evaluated by two professors.

The Master's degree will be awarded if all in-house classes have been attended, all modules have been completed successfully, a report on the internship or study project has been handed in and a Master's thesis has been completed.

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link to course archive

 

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