Download - Visual Ethnography

VISUALETHNOGRAPHY

PRESENTATION : DESIGN & DELIVERY | SPRING 2011 | JOSH RITENOUR

analyzing human behavior through the lens of a camera

VISUALMANIFESTATION


Visual anthropology logically proceeds from the belief that culture is manifested through visible symbols embedded in gestures, ceremonies, rituals, and artifacts situated in constructed and natural environments.

GESTURES CERIMONIES RITUALS ARTIFACTS

CULTURE

V I S U A L S Y M B O L S

VISUALSCENARIOS

Culture is conceived of as manifesting itself in scripts with plots involving actors and actresses with lines, costumes, props, and settings.The cultural self is the sum of the scenarios in which one participates.


CULTURAL SELF

LINES COSTUMES PROPS SETTINGS

CULTURE


M A N I F E S T I N G P L O T S

VISUALRESPONSES

Ethnographers employ photographs in the field to induce responses in an interview. The primary function of photographs taken in the field is as an aide-de-memoire, to help reconstitute events in the mind of the ethnographer.


CULTURAL SELF

LINES COSTUMES PROPS SETTINGS

CULTURE


M A N I F E S T I N G P L O T S

VISUALLYINDESCERNIBLE

On a formal level, photographs taken by anthropologists are indistinguishable from the snapshots or artistically intended images taken by tourists-that is, there is no discernible anthropological photographic style.

VISUALPRESENTATION

If one can see culture, then researchers should be able to employ audiovisual technologies to record it as data amenable to analysis and presentation.

VISUALETHNOGRAPHY


In o

rder

to u

se

photogra

phs

either

as d

ata

or as d

ata

gener

ators

we nee

d to h

ave

som

e notio

n of

how view

ers

treat

and u

nderst

and

photogra

phic im

ages

whether

those

view

ers

are

info

rman

ts

or

rese

arch

ers.