Visual Anthropology at Kent

"Anthropology as Multimedia"

Introduction

Visual Anthropology is famously ambiguous: it can, has and is taken to refer to EITHER the anthropological study of visual material OR to the use of visual material in undertaking anthropological research (or some combination of both of these). Visual Anthropology at Kent stands resolutely on the fence with regard to these organising principles! We are interested in both approaches and try to use the idea of digital multimedia (which we have pioneered as a field technique) as a starting point for the study and development of visual anthropological approaches.

Some of the implications of this are outlined in a background paper on multimedia and anthropology by Mike Fischer and David Zeitlyn

Studying Visual Anthropology at Kent

Our one year masters programme in Visual Anthropology in which students work with (and to consider) photography, video and multimedia- this is further discussed on another page.
Visual Anthropology as an undergraduate - our undergraduate programs include a theoetical course which leads to students producing (in small teams) either a short video or a photographic project.

Archives and Teaching material

Howard Becker 1974. Photography and Sociology. Studies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication 1, 3-26 Full text online with permission

Field-photos from our archives

Some Mambila examples:

The field photos of Farnham Rehfisch (Nigeria 1953/4)
The Gutowski Photographs (Missionaries in Nigieria in 1970s)
From elsewhere in Cameroon: Archiving a Cameroonian Photographic Studio

Digital Video

Making tradition in the Cook Islands

Smelting iron - original film from the Powell Cotton Museum

A Day in the Life... Somié Village, Province de l'Adamaoua, Cameroon

A series of video clips that were taken at approximately one hour intervals throughout the period 6am-7pm of Wednesday 21 April 1999.

David Zeitlyn 11 September 2003 revised 20 Aug 2009