Marcus Banks

Rethinking visual anthropology

For many years the field of visual anthropology has been dominated by a focus on the production and study of ethnographic film, leading many anthropologists to dismiss it as of little importance to their work. This book shows that the scope of visual anthropology is far broader, encompassing the analysis of still photography, television, electronic representation, art, ritual, and material culture. Since anthropology involves the representation of one culture or segment of society to another, the authors argue, an understanding of the nature of representational processes across cultures is essential. This book brings together essays by leading anthropologists that cover the entire range of visual representation, from Balinese television to computer software manuals. Contributors discuss the anthropology of art, the study of landscape, the anthropology of ritual, the anthropology of media and communication, the history of anthropology, and art practice and production. Also included are a wide-ranging introduction and a concluding overview. The book should be of interest to anthropologists - even those who have never picked up a camera - and also to those concerned with cross-cultural visual representation in the fields of cultural studies, media studies, and communication theory.

Post-Authenticity: Dilemmas of Identity in the 20th and 21st Centuries

This article draws upon some recent repatriation claims for Tasmanian human remains in British and European museums to examine debates concerning the authenticity of identity in the 21st century, and to reflect on the construction and representation of Indian identities in the colonial period. I discuss how authenticity can be seen as a process, used instrumentally, rather than a static quality, focusing on how authenticity is asserted, negotiated, performed, or rejected through social and political interaction. The negotiations of the Tasmanian Aboriginal groups for recognition of their status as authentic Aborigines provides a kind of prism or lens through which we can take a fresh view of the competing claims to authorship of Indias filmic heritage.

Television and anthropology: An unhappy marriage?

This paper surveys ethnographic film as it has been presented over the years on British television, particularly in the Disappearing World series. A detailed criticism leads to the conclusion that anthropologists should not place too much faith in the kind of films that are presented for the general public on television. The involvement of anthropologists in these productions has often amounted to a less‐than‐happy marriage.

Defining Division: An Historical Overview of Jain Social Organization

This paper briefly charts the progress and findings of European scholars approaching the issues of caste and sect in the Jain community over the last two centuries. Other authors have already discussed the European interest in Jain textual and philosophical issues, and while I touch on these briefly, my main concern is to outline Jain social organization, with particular reference to Swetambar communities in the north.

Why Move? Regional and Long Distance Migrations of Gujarati Jains

The anthropologist studying migration is in the position that he or she must consider it ex post facto, or at least as a process that has already been set in motion (as indeed must be done with many other facets of social life). All explanations as to the cause of migration are therefore made with the benefit of hindsight and carry with them a sense of inevitability. Far more difficult then, perhaps even more difficult than predicting which sections of populations may migrate in the future, is to explain why certain populations have not migrated. While the explanation may cause difficulty, it should not — in theory — be too difficult a problem to investigate in the field. A difficulty arises, however, when a broader historical and geographical context is taken into account, as I shall discuss.

Talking heads and moving pictures: David Byrne's true stories and the anthropology of film

The feature film True Stories [Byrne 1986] is analysed as a pastiche of a documentary film. Using this analysis, the author then goes on to discuss some of the assumptions underlying the production and use of ethnographic films and suggests that some of the insights of the ‘post modernist’ school of anthropological criticism may be of value in challenging these assumptions.

The Narrative of Lived Experience

Jainism is one of the most ancient of Indian religious traditions, founded (in its present historical form) by a member of a chiefly clan, a man given the title Mahavira (great hero), a contemporary of the Buddha. Mahavira stressed the inherent sterility and unhappiness of worldly life and advocated renunciation, meditation and loss of desires (good as well as bad) to liberate the soul and achieve salvation. The followers of Jainism revere Mahavira and similar hero-figures, building temples to house their images and worshipping them with flowers and sweets. Some become ordained as monks and nuns and, although they try to cut themselves off from worldly ties, they are important to the laity as guides and teachers. While the vows of the monks and nuns prevent them from travelling, except by foot, many of the Jain laity voyaged to East Africa in the early years of the twentieth century, quickly establishing themselves as successful traders and businessmen. In the era of post-Colonial independence many of these Jains moved on to Britain.

Unstable Bodies: Science, Society, and Visual Work

In recent years increased attention has been paid to both modes and processes of seeing in anthropology. At the same time, the body as the locus of visual practice is increasingly problematized. The works reviewed here are all concerned with making people — and bodies — visible, but are aware of the methodological, moral, and political implications of this. Other common threads include the tension between reproduction and representation, the self-awareness of the seen and seeing body, and the roles of digital and other technologies in rendering bodies visible or, at least, present.

Teyyam: The Annual Visit

Teyyam: The Annual Visit of the God Vishnumurti. Director and anthropologist, Erik de Maaker; camera and editing, Erik de Maaker; sound, Lisa van Hamel. 1997; 57 minutes, color. In Malayalam, with English subtitles and narration. Distributed in VHS-NTSC, VHS-PAL by Documentary Educational Resources, 101 Morse Street, Watertown, MA 02472-2554, USA; telephone: +1-617-926-0491; toll-free number (USA only): 800-569-6621; fax: +1-617-926-9519; e-mail: docued@der.org; web: <www.der.org>. Sale: US

Visual Methods in Social Research

195.00; rental US