Art-Based Collaborative Anthropology
But first… what is anthropology?
Toma Tsamkxao, in John Marshall’s The Hunters (1957)
“The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences.””
Anthropology has been situated as the most humanistic of the sciences, and the most scientific of the humanities. Anthropology seeks to understand what makes us human. It does so through the four pillars: biological (the body and its evolutions), linguistic (how we communicate), archaeology (understanding our past), and cultural (how we make meaning of our worlds). Though all overlap and holistically illustrate what it means to be human, the area most useful for this project is cultural anthropology. In its early days, cultural anthropology studied “exotic” people—hunting and gathering societies in various parts of Africa, Aboriginal communities in Australia, Indigenous peoples of the Americas, etc. Anthropologists at the time would go on to write books that benefited their careers and shaped public perceptions of “exotic others”, without acknowledging the perspectives the people of study had of their own community, or their criticisms of the anthropologist. This became more apparent as film and photography was incorporated into research. These visual documents, similar to the film about Vernon, only told certain stories of the people in them. Moreover, they failed to acknowledge the presence of the person making it and their decisions on what is included/excluded in the process. However, thanks to heavy criticisms from and new media produced by those “original” communities of study, cultural anthropology has shifted drastically, becoming critically aware of the power dynamics built within representation. To better address this, cultural anthropology now asks the questions: What do these representations reveal about the cultural background of the person who made them? Why do they get to tell this story? Who is this for and why? This self-consciousness is important for establishing a project that aims to share knowledge and stories across cultural settings, takes seriously the power of representation, and is built on a foundation of collaboration.
John Marshall: went on to critique his own film’s constructed narrative and lack of discussion of the geo-politics of the time.
At its core, cultural anthropology seeks to share knowledge and understanding across cultures. Cultural anthropologists study cultural processes, patterns, and identity formations through the process of fieldwork—extensive periods of time living among the community of study, collaborating with local people (interlocutors), observing by actively participating in the day to day routines (participant observation), and collecting oral histories (stories) and interviews. The culmination of this research is called an ethnography. Though ethnographies have typically taken the form of an academic book, new forms are emerging that blend the lines between anthropology, art, and media studies.
These projects characterize what Maya Haviland defines as art-based collaborative anthropology: using arts practices to document local cultures and tell detailed stories of real people.
Jean Rouch: Film Production as anthropology
French anthropologist and filmmaker, Jean Rouch, has made numerous contributions to the field of anthropology. Two in particular that have given shape to this project are anthropology partagée (shared anthropology) and Ethno-fictions. He believed ethnographies were to be made in collaboration with and for the people whose life’s informed them—knowledge produced should be shared between each other. He saw filmmaking as a tool for anthropology to engage directly with notions of self and other. Using his camera as the medium, Rouch was able to communicate his perspective of the people he was studying to the people he was studying. They in return, were able to see themselves, give feedback, critiques, and corrections, as well as share their perspectives of Rouch to him.
Going against other anthropologists of this time, he believed the camera wasn’t a neutral recording device, but a catalyst for action to occur. His ethno-fictions are an example of this. These were films designed and produced with his interlocutors that told a story culturally specific to their lived experience. In La Pyramide Humaine (1961), he provoked his European and African high school students in Abidjan, Ivory Coast to question their racially segregated social settings, asking them to take part in the film as actors and producers, which we see in several reflexive sequences. Though the plot of the film exudes clichés for high school students—love triangles, betrayal, and friendship—the film’s ethnographic quality reveals authentic cross-cultural dialogues about race, gender, and political ideology. Moreover, it demonstrates the capacity of art and anthropology to enact social change.
“He united the humanist impulse of anthropology with the transformative power of cinema, and in doing so, he transcended the limitations at the heart of each. ”
Neighborhood Story Project: Building a Community of Ethnographers
The Neighborhood Story Project (NSP) is a nonprofit collaborative ethnography organization in partnership with the University of New Orleans that aims to represent New Orleans from within by working “with public schools, grassroots organizations, community-based museums, and other important cultural institutions to create books, exhibits, events, and courses that explore how individual life histories are connected to the broader cultural and historical dynamics of the city and the world.”
In the beginning, the project was developed as a way to engage local students from a disadvantaged high school of the 7th Ward with an enriched English program. Noticing the low literacy rates in the area, co-directors Abram Himelstein and Rachel Breunlin—both English teachers and anthropology graduate students—began to understand that their students didn’t see their lives and experiences reflected in the books that made up the school book shelves… so they asked them to write their own books.
Collaborating with five student authors, Breunlin and Himelstein taught how to do interviews, collect oral histories, take detailed notes, and truly listen to the stories of themselves, their families, and neighbors. These stories were translated, edited, discussed, and revised by the students, the facilitators, and their subjects repeatedly. Their finalized versions were creative, non-fiction books that told the stories of their community. The books were published by the University of New Orleans, purchased by numerous people, and even taught in universities, such as Kareem Kennedy’s Aunt Alice Vs Bob Marley. The money and interest generated from the books helped to sustain the project and expanded it into the multi-faceted organization it is today.
Learn more about their other projects here.
Pittsfield Moves! Community Based-art as ethnography
Pittsfield Moves! is a community-based art project that sought to invoke collaborative change and bridge the structural and social divides in Berkshire County between the world renowned dance institute, Jacob’s Pillow, and the town’s yearlong residents who felt the effects of the institute’s seasonal work. A year-long residency supported Berkshire-based artists and community leaders to develop a practice of storytelling and relationship building through movement. The project was facilitated by Angela’s Pulse director Paloma McGregor and key collaborators. The participants created a community performance built from the people and stories of Pittsfield. In her report of the project, Lizzy Davis illustrates the methods and criteria for building this project:
attention is shifted to the processes of: Entering the community, being engaged to ensure local histories are understood, assets are identified, and desires and concerns are prioritized; Building that community by celebrating its assets, activating them to address community concerns, challenging manifestations of oppression, and building new collaborative muscles; and Exiting that community having given sustained attention to the project’s impact and sustainability.
Though the project does not specifically identify as an ethnography, I find it (as well as many other community-based arts programs) to align well with the goals of cultural anthropology. Jan Cohen-Cruz defines community-based art as, “a field in which artists, collaborating with people whose lives directly inform the subject matter, express collective meaning.” Like ethnographies, community-based art projects are established with the community’s participation, guidance, criticism, and approval as the locus for development. For this reason, I find it important to value this work as a form of anthropology and cultural documentation.