Course: Inroduction to visual Anthropology

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Course title Inroduction to visual Anthropology
Course code KSKA/UVAH
Organizational form of instruction Seminar
Level of course Bachelor
Year of study 2
Semester Summer
Number of ECTS credits 5
Language of instruction Czech
Status of course Compulsory-optional
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Lecturer(s)
  • Šavelková Lívia, PhDr. Ph.D.
Course content
Romantic views of "native peoples" - Roberth Flaherty, fotografie Edward Curtiss. First anthropologists' films - Margaret Meadová, Gregory Bateson. Artistic approach to culture - an artist as anthropologist - Maya Deren. Films advocation protection of native peoples - John Marshall. Scientific approach to culture - Timothy Asch a Napoleon Chagnon. First films made by the investigated native people themselves. Interesting Czech ethnographic documentaries. Steretypes and the production of the native people themselves. Black robe - widely discussed film based on the diaries of Jesuit missionaries. Film authors of North America - Chris Eyre, Randy Redroad, Shirley Cheechoo, Alanis Obomsawin. Zacharias Kunuk - Atanajurat (the first Inuit film, awarded in Cannes 2001) Film and media of the Austrálian aboriginal peoples. Roma and films on Roma issues. Visit to one of the relevant film festivals (Jeden svět - One World, Febiofest etc.) Films will be screened for all topics - please consult course materials stored in the STAG IS.

Learning activities and teaching methods
Monologic (reading, lecture, briefing), Dialogic (discussion, interview, brainstorming), Demonstration, Projection
Learning outcomes
The main goal of this course is to explore the representations of culture in visual form; in photographies and films.
Next to the famous examples of ethnographic films, such as Flaherty's, Mead's, Marshall' s, we will also screen the movies which are significant for the creating of stereotypes of particular ethnic and cultural groups. We will also see films created by indigenous people throughout the world.
Prerequisites
unspecified

Assessment methods and criteria
Home assignment evaluation, Student performance assessment

Class attendance and reading assignements before class are mandatory. Two essays Final Paper (10 pages) - please submit a topic for approval for your final paper by the 8th week. Review of film festival (2-3 pages) Required Text: Will be on reserve in library
Recommended literature
  • BARNOW, E. Documentary. Oxford, 1993.
  • CRAWFORD, P. Film As Ethnography. Manchester: University of Manchester Press, 1992.
  • HEIDER, K. Seeing Anthropology. USA, 1997.
  • MacDOUGALL,, D. Transcultural Cinema. Princeton, 1998.
  • RONY, F. The Third Eye: Race, Cinema and Ethnographic Spectacle. Duke, 1996.
  • WINSTON, B. Claiming the Real: The Documentary Film Revisited. London, 1995.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester
Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Study plan (Version): Humanities (2013) Category: Philosophy, theology 2 Recommended year of study:2, Recommended semester: Summer
Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Study plan (Version): Humanities (2016) Category: Philosophy, theology 2 Recommended year of study:2, Recommended semester: Summer