New Visions of Ethnographic Films from Asia

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel Proposal Application

Abstract

From late 20th century to early 21st century, with the rapid development of light and inexpensive film-making tools, anthropology, anthropologists and related socio-humanitarian disciplines have become more and more aware of the limitations of written ethnographies, and explored the various means of incorporating ethnographic film-making techniques into the production of anthropological knowledge to cross the borders of nations, ethnic groups, and academic disciplines, etc. Such efforts have also been carried out by visual anthropologists and ethnographic filmmakers in Asia. They have not only attempted to challenge the anthropological theory and ways of representation, but tried to enhance the influences and approachability of anthropology in Asian countries. In this panel, visual anthropologists from Japan, Taiwan and China will discuss this new trend of visual anthropology in their own country and provide new visions of ethnographic films from Asia with representative filmic cases.

Area of Study

• Northeast Asia

Session Organizer

• Tai-Li Hu, Academia Sinica

Chair

• Tai-Li Hu, Academia Sinica

Individual Presentations

• New Horizon of Anthropological Filmmaking in Japan - Itsushi Kawase, Research Center for Cultural Resources, National Museum of Ethnology

• The Development of “Indigenous People Ethnographic Films” in Early 21st Century Taiwan - Tai-Li Hu, Academia Sinica

• Introduction to Filmic Anthropology - Jiang Bao, Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

• From Philippines, Germany to Papua New Guinea:The Imaginations of Transnationalism and the Identities between Nations and States among three Taiwan Indigenous Documentaries - Futuru C.L. Tsai, National Taitung University